A great and glorious future
by Cogitor
Summary: After the death of King Mufasa and the disappearance of his heir Simba, Scar takes control of Priderock. Shockingly, his first act as the new king is to allow the loathed hyenas back into the Pridelands. What will life be like under the rule of this sinister new king? Read on to find out.
1. Looking down, looking back

**Looking down, looking back**

"A great and glorious future, huh?"

A thin, tawny lioness lay on a narrow rocky ledge, peering down at the grassy hill below Priderock. She remained entirely motionless, save for her eyes scanning the lands beneath. There _they_ were, palling around in clumps of four or five, seeking shelter from the noon heat under the scattered acacias. A sneer fixed itself on the lioness' face, and she turned to her companion. The lioness next to her looked much the same as she did, gaunt with matted fur, but of a fairer hue.

"Sounds like a load of crock to me," the tawny lioness continued, "A smellier, mangier future more like it. This pride sure ain't what it used to be."

The lightly colored lioness made no reply, much to the chagrin of her companion. She did respond eventually, but only because the tawny lioness wouldn't stop glaring at her.

"What would you have me say, Zira?"

Zira, kept up her piercing stare. The pale lioness swallowed, then continued.

"I don't like this any more than you do, you know. I can't imagine any of the other lionesses being too happy about this neither..."

"Oh yeah? How can you even tell? Heard nary a peep from them. They can't seem to shut up otherwise, but yesterday all they did was blubber, and look all shocked. But no-one raises a paw, or even just their voice."

Zira peered down again. She still couldn't believe what she saw: hyenas, dozens of them, and all perfectly comfortable and unmolested, not just in her pride's territory, but right on the doorstep of the lions' den. All at the invitation of the pride's resident male - no, pardon, their _king_ , Scar, at present only a day invested. Madness!

"You think it was a mistake settling here, Tuli?"

The lightly colored lioness called Tuli frowned. "I don't know," she admitted.

 _Sure seems like a mistake now, doesn't it? What lions in their right minds would want to live out their lives alongside those vicious scavengers?_

Neither her nor Zira were born in the Pridelands - they had fled their land of birth, and the late king Ahadi had taken them in. Thinking back to that time, though, made Tuli realize that the Pridelanders had never been just any ordinary pride. She started reminiscing out loud:

"Come to think of it, Zira, these lions have always been a bit of an odd bunch, no? What with the whole "king"-thing, that weird monkey-shaman they keep around, and that obnoxious blue hornbill, all that talk of "the Circle of Life"... It's been almost a year, and for the life of me I still can't make sense of it. Yet, knowing all that, we chose to stay anyway."

"Not like we had much choice," Zira replied, "They were the first pride that would take us in."

"Yeah... I don't think we would have survived long enough on our own to go and look for another pride after that."

That admission brought back bitter memories. Two young lionesses, their pride wiped out, set adrift in the wilderness during the worst drought in living memory. Famished, exhausted, and eventually even too weak to hunt. No-one had any use for them - not _alive_ anyway. Tuli could still feel the sting of hunger, and the dread of being hunted. When the enormous lion with the dark, gray-streaked mane met them at the edge of the Pridelands, and bade them "enter", she had thought for a moment he was a divine messenger sent to guide them into the afterlife, or perhaps mirage conjured up by her dying mind. He was neither. Before them had stood Ahadi, great king of the Pridelands, inviting them into his pride.

"To tell you the truth, Zira, back then, I'd have joined a hyena-clan if it meant a belly full of meat. Hell, I'd have married one if need be."

"You wish. Like you'd find even a hyena desperate enough to settle for your ugly mug," Zira remarked without a hint of whimsy. Only after a few moments did cracks appear in her facade, and when Tuli started snickering, she couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst out laughing. Any time it looked like the worst of it had passed, the lionesses would look at each other, only to relapse in a new fit of giggles.

"Heavens!" Tuli exclaimed, still gasping for breath, "I can't remember the last time we had this much of a laugh..."

"Ditto," Zira sighed, "Damn, those scavengers' inane cackling must be contagious, somehow. Like their fleas weren't bad enough! That's what we get for letting them get too close."

They sat in silence for a while, catching their breath.

"I suppose you're right, though. On second thought, bad as this is... might as well leave well enough alone, for now."

 _... because having to go look for a new pride might well kill us this time around._ Tuli had known Zira long enough to intuit she wouldn't admit to that kind of weakness, but that was the truth of it. There were worse things in life than a newbie king with inexplicable visions of grandeur, or his uncouth scavenger friends. As long as there was enough to eat, Tuli was willing to put up with just about anything, and not make the slightest fuss.

After their heart-to-heart, Zira too was willing to accept this new status quo. But having made her peace with the new state of affairs, she immediately moved on to fret about the issue in a wholly novel way. She wasn't one to ever be contented. Scar had invited the hyenas into the Pridelands, and Zira would try and learn to live with that - for now.

But she found it exceedingly hard to assent to what she didn't understand. _Why_ , exactly, had Scar done what he did?

Why did he allow the hyenas into the Pridelands? They had been banished to the Elephant Graveyard since time immemorial, and in his time as king, Mufasa had seen to it that they stayed there. But now Scar came in, and completely reverse his brother's longstanding policy from day one... Heavens, the vultures probably hadn't even started on the late king Mufasa, and already there Scar was, with his newfound mangy minions in tow.

Scar's glowing eulogies and sorrowful paeans had no doubt mollified the native Pridelanders, agreeable dolts that they were - that's why none of them asked any questions. But Scar's honeyed words did nothing for Zira.

The hardships she suffered before joining the lions of the Pridelands, and the motley assortment of lying scum she had met back in the day, had taught Zira to be, always and above all else, suspicious. And much like his hyena friends, Scar's words simply didn't smell right.

Something was rotten in the Pridelands, and Zira was going to try and find out what it was.

* * *

 **Author's note: so there we go, the first chapter of my first story in quite a while. I'll probably have a number of smaller, interrelated plots, against the backdrop of Scar's reign spiraling out of control, and I'll try to give everyone involved a day in the limelight.**


	2. Attention to detail

**Attention to detail**

When looked at from afar, Priderock looks nothing so much as a toothless, gaping maw of some dark and ancient monstrosity trying to break free from beneath the Pridelands' rolling green hills, turned to stone. A long, pointed visage, with a short jaw and an underbite. The face juts out vertically, the sheer cliff on the inner side being all that's left of the palate, while the eroded and pock-marked incline at the other end could well pass for the cadaverous remains of eye- and nose-holes. The jaw stands at an almost-but-not-quite straight angle, propped up by another rock jabbing out from the ground.

Though really, it's just rocks. Picturesquely arranged and strategically located, but a big pile of rocks nonetheless. The face and jaw are just a high peak and a lower, upwards-sloping promontory. Then you see beyond those, and all the myriad details come into view: countless platforms, ridges, pathways, slabs, boulders and caves litter the site, and a smaller rocky complex on springs up across from the north end, situated across a barren gully. Not a once living creature, not a purposeful creation but just vagaries of the terrain.

The lions' main den is an expansive cave on the lower level of the large, jutting peak, and opens to the north, looking out on the smaller site. It's not the largest cave in the complex, but owning to its orientation and the adjacent rocks, it's shielded from sunlight throughout the day, making it the perfect place to sleep the noon's heat away.

A lone tawny, dark-maned lion did not keep to the den, however. That afternoon, he had retired to a quite different abode, also a cave hewn into the great peak, but higher up, level with the base of the promontory, looking east. He lay alone in the back of the cave. The entrance was both the highest and widest part of the space, allowing the outside light to flood the room, yet as you walked deeper into the cave, it became progressively more cramped, lower, focusing the attention of all who entered on the slightly elevated alcove situated at the very end... and the current occupant, reposing there.

The dark-maned lion attempted to clear his mind of the myriad troubles that had occupied him all day, and he let his gaze wander. With a subdued smile, he marveled at his own ingenuity in selecting this exact spot for his throne-room: anyone walking the length of the cave would perceive the walls to be closing in, unconsciously causing them to stoop as they neared the small plateau at the end. The perfect place for a king to receive his supplicants.

Of course _Mufasa_ had never had much use for such a place!

 _My idiot brother never had to resort to sophisticated techniques like this to impress his underlings_ , the lion thought bitterly.

Even in death, the late king managed to cast a shadow over the dark-maned lion's every thought - not a moment's peace was allowed him. His smile drooped into a disgusted frown. Mufasa! Anyone who ever met that hulking brute could't help but shrink in awe at the mere sight of him, or be cowed by his terrible booming bass-voice. No need for a subtly intimidating chamber, he carried terror with him everywhere he went!

No such luck for pitiful little _Taka_ , no, nothing was ever just handed to him! He always had to rely on his smarts to get anywhere, at best coming up with ingenious gimmicks, like this cave. Of course, that's not how a _real_ lion handles things! Oh no, between them, Mufasa had always been the real lion, and he'd never shied away from making that abundantly clear, mocking his weaker brother at every turn in their younger days.

"But who's laughing now, dear brother?" the lion chuckled to himself, "Turns out brains beat brawn after all."

"Scar?"

The lion flinched, and abruptly turned towards the entrance, scowling at the disturbance. The silhouette of a lioness was outlined against the daylight outside. Only as she moved further into the cave did Scar recognize her for who she was. Head held high, the burly, cream-colored lioness strode over to him. Significantly, she ignored her instinct to crouch at the shrinking surroundings, and remained upright. Of course she did, Scar considered, annoyed. Queen Sarabi would not bow to anyone, or anything.

"Is that how you would address your new king, Queen-dowager?"

That halted Sarabi in her tracks. Scar could see her lips tighten and eyes narrow. How proud she was, still. But in the end, she only hesitated for the shortest instant.

"Apologies... your highness."

"No need for apologies, Sarabi, all this is as much new for me as it is for you," Scar waved his paw casually as he spoke, "I'm sure we'll get used to it eventually. Now - what is it?"

"We've finished clearing the animals out of the plains below. The... _ceremony_ is over now. All that's left is for you give the word, and we can commence the feast."

With a groan, Scar put his head down on the rocks, clutching his face with both paws in frustration. That Sarabi managed to stay so formal and polite only added to his embarrassment. Queenly material to be sure. Just a slight pause before "ceremony", that was all.

Heavens knew she had ample reason to pause.

"Awfully generous of you to still call it a ceremony," Scar growled through his paws.

It hadn't been a ceremony, it had been a damned slaughter!

* * *

That morning, things had started out well enough. Rafiki had arrived at Priderock with uncharacteristic punctuality, and the weather was excellent: some clouds to block out the day's worst heat without being overcast, and a slight breeze. Perfect conditions to ensure maximum turnout for the ceremony formally announcing the death of Mufasa, and the crowning of King Scar. The prospect of it had made the soon-to-be king almost giddy. And sure enough, massive crowds of animals showed up to gawk at their new ruler.

What a sight it had been, standing up there at the pinnacle of Priderock's promontory! Row upon row of animals all staring up at him - the dizzying mess of the zebra herds, the dull gray uniformity of all the wildebeest, broken up by the delightful sight of a gaily colored pack of wild dogs. Majestic giraffes, lumbering elephants, hulking rhinos, the sleek and graceful cheetahs... And all there to see him, Scar! When they bowed down in unison, he had felt positively intoxicated - the terribly vague yet overwhelming feeling that it all had to _mean_ something!

It lasted about the blink of an eye, before reality intruded - and how! From his vantage point, Scar had been uniquely well situated to see that perfect picture of order and harmony turn into a seething cauldron of violent chaos in no time at all. It had started at the edges of the crowd - impossible to see from that height what it had been exactly that set everything off, but all the more suited to observe the unfolding disaster. Some animals at the easternmost edge of the gathering had suddenly started darting any which was, most of them into the open plains, but others deeper into the crowd. Startled and panicked because of the others running into them, the next rung of animals in turn moved to flee wherever they could. Except that they had no open plains to flee into, only more crowds. Like a stone dropped into a pond, the ripple of agitation spread out from there.

The animals were packed too tight, with no room to run. Yet they ran, or tried to anyway. All the commotion kicked up a blooming dust-cloud, only adding to the confusion. Panicked and blinded, the bigger animals trampled some of the smaller underfoot, only to trip and be themselves crushed by the hooves of their companions. After the worst of it had passed, it took the entire afternoon to calm the crowds, restore the herds, and send them on their way. So much for this most triumphant celebration!

And there he had been, King Scar, witnessing it whole. All that purpose, triumph, and elation, it had all felt so... nice. But then, a lot sooner than usual, the crushing feeling of having it all turn to ash. He cursed himself for getting so carried away.

* * *

"Your highness, good news!"

A high-pitched squeak echoed throughout the cave. Scar lifted his paws of his face, shooting a deadly look at the source of the sound. A blue hornbill landed next to Sarabi, seamlessly transitioning from flight, to landing, over into a graceful bow - all in one smooth move. The bird took pains not to look at Scar, though, in stead remaining prostrate for the longest time.

"I very much doubt that," Scar sneered, "But go ahead, I'll bite: what's the good news, Zazu?"

"A-a most miraculous occurrence, your excellency," Zazu stuttered, rankled by Scar's reflexive skepticism. Mufasa would never treat his majordomo with such cynicism! "I have made the final tally for the stampede, and I can report that in the end there were only a dozen fatalities, a phenomenally light toll considering the sheer size of the assembled multitude! The list breaks down as follows: four gazelle, ..."

"Heavens, if that's what passes for good news, I dread the day you come bearing bad news," Scar interrupted with morbid glee, "Good news, sire! Only two out of three cubs were stillborn. Good news, your magnificence! Bad as the wound may be, the pain will surely stop once you die..."

Scar yawned.

"... and so on. Any more of that good news you care to share with us?"

There were a lot of snide and snooty replies Zazu could fire off, but he thought better of it. Scar was his new king, after all, and it would not do to antagonize him so early in his reign, or after that day's most embarrassing display. Sure, they could not stand to be near each other, and Zazu had always relished getting in a good dig at Scar in front of Mufasa... but that was in the past now. No doubt, both the new monarch and his majordomo just needed some time to adjust, to learn and understand each other, and all would be well!

"Well... yes, your highness! I have more good news, in fact. After conducting a most rigorous investigation, and interviewing many witnesses, I have managed to determine the cause of the stampede."

"The cause of this stampede was the same as the cause of any stampede: panic," Scar waxed absentmindedly, wondering exactly how rigorous an investigation you could conduct in one lazy afternoon. Especially with that many potential witnesses. Then again, Zazu did have wings, so...

"Of course, sire. I should rather have said: I have determined the culprits."

Scar's ears perked up. That actually was good news! Punishing someone for this fiasco would prove most therapeutic, if ultimately pointless; his first impression as a king before his assembled kingdom had been inadvertently ruined no matter what he did. But after punishing someone, at least he'd feel better for a while.

"Well? Don't just keep me waiting, spit it out, man!"

"Ah, yes, my apologies, sire. It turns out that someone violated the King's Peace this morning, and went hunting. I needn't tell you that this is a most heinous crime, violating an ancient and..."

"Yes, yes, yes, but who? Give me names," Scat insisted, now standing up and leaning forward, claws gripping the edge of his podium.

"Well, sire, we don't know who it was, exactly, only that they were, eh... hyenas."

The temperature in the room plunged instantly. Scar's expectant grin turned to wrathful scowl, while Sarabi managed an almost undetectable smirk. She could as well have said "I told you so," but really, why even bother? The king withdrew back onto his perch, and plopped down dejectedly.

"Of course, that figures," he grumbled. For a while, he sat silent, motionless, while Zazu and Sarabi waited anxiously. Then he suddenly exploded at them: "I'm surrounded by idiots! Get me Shenzi, NOW!"

* * *

Scar's fury notwithstanding, finding the hyena matriarch proved to be surprisingly easy: she was on Priderock grounds, not all that far away from Scar's throneroom, in fact. As Zazu flew out, his ears still echoing with the furious roar Scar had let out, he could plainly see and hear the hyena pestering the lionesses for a chance to see the king.

Shenzi had attended the botched coronation ceremony, along with a delegation from her clan - that is to say, Ed and Banzai - and from a (subdued) place of honor at that: on Priderock itself, along with the lionesses, be it at a short distance from and slightly below them. Seeing as how the presence of the entire clan would have overshadowed the lionesses, the other hyenas had of course not been invited to Priderock itself, and they had to make do on the plains down below with the rest of the animals. All well and good, until someone got it into his head that a spot of hunting would go nicely with the ongoing celebration. The query crashed into the assembled crowd, and then: pandemonium.

Not long after the ensuing stampede, several hyenas came running to Shenzi to assure her that, no, it hadn't been them who did the hunting - nothing to do with it in fact! - but that they sure knew who did! Who exactly was at fault remained unclear - from experience, Shenzi knew to take the word of a snitch with a grain of salt. But that it had been a member of her clan, well, that seemed pretty obvious.

And if it was on a member of her clan, it was on her. Her clan, her responsibility. Being a matriarch isn't just about getting first dibs on a meal, or bossing others around; when it came to dealing with outsiders, she was both the face of the clan, and their shield. Whatever came at them, it was on her to try and steer it away. So she straightened her back, grit her teeth, and went to see Scar - only to find out that the king didn't want to be disturbed.

"You're full of it, I could see that one lioness enter his cave just now! Same with that blue bird that's always talking sh..."

"Ahem!" Zazu intoned, landing a few steps away, "I'll have you know that anything I have to say is pertinent to the workings of this kingdom - not that I would expect the likes of you to understand..."

"The working of this kingdom would be better served with you turned into ragout."

"And you'll serve the kingdom best if you keep working on those comebacks. In the meantime: the king has asked to see you."

Shenzi swallowed, immediately forgetting about that windbag of majordomo. It's always better to ask to see the king, than have the king ask to see you. Too late for that now, though. How she dreaded facing Scar. All the time she'd known him - the better part of a lifetime! - he'd kept going on and on about how much it would mean for him to be the king, between bouts of self-pity and free-form melancholy. And these last few days, it'd been all about the coronation - she could only remember one other time when she'd seen him as exited. And now Shenzi's folks had gone and ruined his big day - right after he'd done them such a solid, allowing them into the Pridelands!

Time to put on a strong face; to a hyena, showing weakness amounts to inviting abuse. Trying not to look too anxious, head held high, Shenzi ambled towards the cave. Unlike Sarabi, though, she did fall victim too the throneroom's optical trickery, and by the time she reached Scar she'd already bent her head below her shoulders again. And at the sight of the former queen, she shrank even lower. There was a lioness whose mate had just been killed, and who believed her only son dead as well - yet here she stood, cold and implacable, not even as much as twitching here ears as Shenzi entered. She might have as well been hewn from the rocks itself. Shenzi's hearth ran cold at the thought of this queen ever finding out who was behind her mate's death.

Zazu followed, landing in front of the hyena, again managing to transition straight into a bow.

"Sire, as requested: Shenzi, of the hyenas."

"Well that was fast. What'd you do, fly her here?" Scar asked, taken slightly aback by the speed of Zazu's return.

"It's because I've been trying to see you all afternoon, but nobody would..." Shenzi's whine petered out as she watched Scar rise up and stare at her with a fury she didn't before think possible.

"If I were you I'd keep very, very quiet," he growled through gritted teeth, "I've got half a mind to have you thrown off Priderock right now! I allow you into the Pridelands, and the very first thing you choose to do with your time is to ruin my coronation, causing a stampede that kills dozens! Unbelievable! What are the other animals supposed to think of me now? A trail of dead right on the heels of my ascension! Heavens, I can't imagine a worse omen... "

"Very inauspicious," Zazu agreed, earning himself his second murderous glare from Scar.

Shenzi's first instinct was to joke that having a stampede at his coronation seemed rather appropriate, given the circumstances of his rise to power, but she bit her tongue. Better save that one for Banzai and Ed.

"Eh... sorry..."

"Sorry won't cut it! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in? I'd be well within my rights to banish the hyenas all over again for this. You've broken sacred laws..."

Shenzi glared up at Scar, suddenly grinning.

"Oh, so we've broken sacred laws, Scar? What kind of laws, like against murder, you mean?"

Scar's eyes went wide, and he felt a sudden tightness in his stomach. _Don't you dare even think about it, mangy little cur, I'll kill you where you stand!_ But he had gotten the message, and eased up a bit, signaling it by sitting down again and tempering his voice.

"Murder?" The word came out almost in a hiss, suffused with barely restrained rage "No, not that... You sound very confused, Shenzi dear. Allow me to waste some of my precious time on the futile endevaror of trying to educate you, pathologically ignorant as you are. During the coronation, and until I signal the beginning of the feast, all animals are under the protection of the King's Peace, and no hunting is allowed. That's all there is to it. It is an ancient law of this kingdom."

"That's all very well, Scar...'

"Your highness," Zazu corrected, aiming to ingratiate himself with the king.

"That's all very well, _your highness_ , but I don't know if you've noticed: we weren't part of this kingdom for the longest time. I don't know how it is for lions, but hyenas can't smell ancient laws! How are we supposed to know any of this stuff if no-one bothers to tell us?"

"What do you mean nobody told you?" Scar asked, squinting.

"Well it ain't like any of your lionesses ever deign us worthy of a friendly chat," Shenzi complained, mean eyes fixed on Sarabi, who was still there, unmoving, and staring straight ahead of her, "And besides, ancient laws usually don't come up during casual conversation anyway, ya know?"

"Sure, but were you not invited to the ceremony?"

"Well, yeah, me and the plus-two. Everyone else could watch from down below."

"And you didn't think to inform your associates that this implied good behavior?"

"I'm not stupid, Scar," Shenzi snapped, slipping out of decorum again, "I told the clan that if they wanted to come and watch, they couldn't hunt any of the animals that were there, or I'd have their ass."

"That's not how it works, you're not allowed to hunt anyone - it's not just the animals attending," Zazu corrected, "Hunts have a way of moving around - prey don't like being eaten, you see. So there is to be no hunting anywhere in the kingdom, and not just near the ceremony, to avoid the kind of panic we saw today."

"Well now you tell me!"

"She has a point, Zazu," Scar said, "I ordered you, as my majordomo, to extend my formal invitation to all the animals of the Pridelands, via their designated representatives. Did you pass my message on to Shenzi, as matriarch of the hyenas? Or did you lazily assume that was already taken care of because she and I are on such cordial terms?"

"Well, sire, I'll have you know that I did not lazily assume anything," Zazu responded, sounding quite insulted, "I passed the message to the matriarch just like my duties prescribe."

"Lovely. And did you also mention the King's Peace?"

"I..." the majordomo hesitated, "Sire, with respect, you asked me to extend your formal invitation to all animals, not to simultaneously explain our laws and customs..."

"Really now?" Scar sneered, "And I suppose that you would forgo breathing, too, if not ordered to do so? Is it really too much to ask that you go about your duties without me needing to spell out every little detail?"

"Scar," Sarabi suddenly spoke, loud yet flat, intentionally forgoing honorifics, "If you had wanted the King's Peace explained to the hyenas, you should have ordered it so. That is why you are the king."

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Or perhaps a slight scraping-sound: Scar digging his claws into the rock. He was fuming at being put in his place like that - who did she think she was to lecture him - Mufasa reincarnate? He needed to do his utmost best to restrain himself from raking her across the face then and there. He did restrain himself, though; it would not do to abuse the poor widow of the _great_ Mufasa, not with everyone still spooked by that disastrous inauguration.

"That is not how I will do things," he declared once his rage had subsided, "I expect better sense from all of you in the future, in stead of relying on me to guide your every step like you were a bunch of blind cubs. A king should not concern himself with details, but trust in the good sense of his loyal, dutiful, and responsible subjects. Can I rely on you from now on, Zazu?"

Without waiting for a reply, he then turned to Shenzi.

"As for the hyenas... When I spoke of exiling you again, well, that is something within my power as the king... But I won't. I'm not going to punish all hyenas for the actions of a few - that is not how I will do things, either. But those directly responsible will have to be punished for breaking the law and violating the King's Peace..."

"But they didn't even know what the law was," Shenzi complained, reflexively defending her clanmates.

"Be that as it may, ignorance of the law is never an excuse. It's a basic principle of civilized society, and now that you live in the Pridelands, you'd do well to remember it. You know the hyenas best, so I'm leaving it up to you to find those responsible, and hand them over to me so I can decide on the appropriate punishment."

"Wait a second, they are my people, only I get to..."

"Silence!" Scar thundered, fed up with Shenzi's constant haggling, "You do not seem to get it, do you? The hyenas live in the Pridelands now. I am their king, they are my subjects, and when they break the laws of my kingdom, I will be their judge. Or, if that goes beyond your limited understanding: my house, my rules."

As the matriarch, it was Shenzi's duty to protect her people as best she could - that included trying to protect them from their new king. But she knew Scar well enough that he wouldn't be pushed any further - and besides, he was right: the deal had been for Scar to become their king, too, and in return the hyenas were allowed back into the Pridelands. That, and one bloody detail best left unmentioned in the presence of former queen Sarabi.

"As you wish... your majesty."

"Good. One more thing: I don't want to see you or any other hyena anywhere near the feast tonight - as much for your own safety as anything else. You didn't have much of a reputation to start with, and I imagine it won't be long before word spreads on how you were responsible for the stampede. Do yourselves a favor and keep your heads down for the time being. Now get out of my sight, the lot of you."

Sarabi and Shenzi were more than happy to leave by now - probably the first time they'd had anything in common. Zazu lingered for a moment, however.

"Eh, sire..."

With a belabored sigh, the king again turned to face the majordomo.

"And what is it now?"

"Sire, if it is any consolation, I do think there is a silver lining to this morning's events, and all the, eh,... death."

"If there is, I fail to see it."

"Well... If you think about it, with all the freshly killed prey just laying around, the lionesses won't have to do any hunting for tonight's feast! As I am sure your hyena associates would appreciate, waste not, want not."

It took him some deliberation, but in the end, Scar managed to crack a smile.

* * *

 **postscript: hoped you liked it, our first look at the nitty gritty of Scar trying to run a kingdom. A bit unfocussed as of yet, maybe, but at least I get some world-building done that way.**


	3. Making friends

**preface: have you perchance had the opportunity to meet some of our antagonists? Three familiar faces, and the new guy.**

* * *

 **Making friends**

"Ha! Look, Banzai, new meat!"

The inside of the cave was hot, gloomy and cramped, even more so than the rest of Elephant Graveyard. The stink of sulfur was everywhere. Maybe the other hyenas had gotten used to it after living there for so long, but it still made Kuzinga's stomach turn. Why the hell did they drag me all the way back to this dump, he wondered, when the all of the Pridelands are open to us now? The worst of the Pridelands is paradise compared to this hellhole.

Three sets of eyes glowed in the shadows at the back of the cave. Kuzinga didn't even need to see their faces to know who they were. He might be new to the clan, but it was hard to mistake the trio now in front of him. As he moved deeper into the cave, they rose to meet him, skulking forward menacingly. Kuzinga suppressed a shudder, sat down, and bowed his head reverently.

"Matriarch..."

The tallest of the three other hyenas came to a stop in front of him, a malicious grin glued to her face. Her companions circled around, coming to a stop behind Kuzinga, blocking the exit. One of the two bore a permanent squint, giving him the look of someone straining to think, but with his understanding of something or other always just out off reach. Or maybe he was just the suspicious type. Kuzinga had no idea what the other hyena's deal was, with his tongue forever lolling out of his mouth and a wild look fixed in his dopey eyes.

The hyena in front of him looked down with glee. Kuzinga glanced up. She was tall, but not overly large, with sharper features than most. A thick, raven mane arced in front of her sly, dark-ringed pale-yellow eyes. Attractive, for a hyena.

"No need for formalities, honey," she drawled, "Just "Shenzi" is fine. Yer a part of our family now - ain't he, Banzai?"

"Sure is, part of... our family? Wait, how were we related again? Ed, is he a cousin of ours?"

Kuzinga looked back to see the dopey hyena tilt his head confusedly - was he even capable of confusion? Back in front, Shenzi groaned.

"No, you idiot, it's a figure of speech, it means... you know what, just forget about it!"

She turned her attention back to Kuzinga.

"You, the new guy... uh... I forgot, what's your name again?"

"Kuzinga, ma'am."

"Never heard of it!" Shenzi replied, "In fact, I've forgotten already... What was it again? Kazenghe?"

"No, it was Kaah-zinga," Banzai offered.

"Kuh-zinga?"

"Bazinga?"

"Just "Kuz" is fine," Kuzinga growled, interrupting their back-and-forth. He immediately regretted letting his annoyance over their joking get the better of him, because when he looked at Shenzi again, he could see her smile ice over immediately.

"I'll call you what I damn well please, new guy. You're new to our clan, and a male to boot - that puts you at the very bottom of the heap. Even ol' Ed gets to pull rank on you - right, Ed?"

Ed nodded enthusiastically, and shot Kuzinga an almost imperious look from one eye. The other eye stared off into nothing.

"Right! Now that we've got that sorted out, it's time we had a serious talk, ya dig?" Shenzi managed another grin. "You know why we're down here, new guy?"

"Well... You sent for me to come here, so I came here."

Shenzi stared at Kuzinga, waiting for him to say something else. He had no idea what else she expected him to say.

"Not a very talkative one, is he?" Banzai complained.

"Maybe he's trying to play himself off as the mysterious type," Shenzi shrugged, "Doesn't matter, I'll do plenty of talking for the both of us. Say, Kuzzy-kuz, you didn't think it was odd I asked for you to come out here - right here, I mean? Ain't the most hospitable place, 's got a bit of a funk about it. No point coming here now that we're allowed in the Prideands, right?"

"I bet that's why he joined our clan, too, 'cause he knew we got the Pridelands now," Banzai sneered.

"You're the boss, you get to decide where we meet," Kuzinga replied, ignoring Banzai.

"That's part of the answer, sure. But really, I asked you to come here because I knew no-one else would want to be around. Its just so nice out _there_ , that no-one wants to be down _here_ anymore! Gives us some privacy..."

Shenzi suddenly started circling Kuzinga, who stayed seated, and stared rigidly out in front of him. If her plan had been to intimidate him with that last remark, she had succeeded. Shenzi's gaze went up and down Kuzinga's sides and back as she slowly walked around him, all the while licking her bared teeth. She came back around to face him.

"Not bad," she crowed, "Lean, dark, and those big, pretty brown eyes - just my type!"

Banzai frowned in the background as Shenzi continued: "Bit weathered, though. Your left backpaw drags slightly..."

"A buffalo ran me over when I was still a pup."

"... and a fair amount of scars, too..."

"I had a rough time between leaving my birth-clan and joining yours."

Shenzi gazed in silence for a moment, smiling her inscrutable smile. Kuzinga was feeling ever less at ease, and ventured a quick glance over his shoulder. Ed and Banzai still blocked the only way out.

"Right..." She drew out the word for the longest time, "Your birth-clan... that's what you told us when you first came here a few months back, and guess what: no-one really bothered to look into it. Why would we, ya know? You're just some new guy, and you looked to be a good fit. But it just so happens that me and Banzai were having a little talk the other day, having to do with our fancy new arrangement with the lions. And whadaya know, the new guy got mentioned - that's you.

"So I decided to have a good hard look atcha... then I got to thinking... the way you sound, the way you carry yourself, all very mature. Mind you, I'm not calling _old_ or anything, just not someone fresh from being kicked out of his birth-clan..."

"I... I was out there a while. It was rough, and..." Kuz fumbled his words, swallowed. He glanced back. Banzai and Ed now openly bared their teeth at him.

" _A while_? Come on honey, I'm not as stupid as those two are,..."

"Hey!"

"... and we both well know you can be between clans for maybe, I dunno, a few months, at most. No one survives longer than that, not on their own. Yet, here you are, from what I can tell at least a year removed from being kicked out of your birth-clan... but claiming it happened yesterday, so to speak. Whadaya think, Banzai, does it smell a bit fishy to you?"

"It stinks!"

"Exactly," Shenzi smirked, "It stinks. So I got to thinking, what has our new guy been up to in the meantime? You can't survive for all that time without a clan, yet you obviously spent some time doing something between leaving your brith-clan and joining ours. Also, you are still alive. To say it with a fancy word - pretend I'm our new king for a sec! - _therefore_ you must have been in another, third clan!"

"You lost me," Banzai confessed after a few moments, breaking a tense silence that set in when Shenzi finished speaking. It did little for Kuzinga, though, now on the edge of panic, like the cornered animal he very much was. He started to slowly back into a side-wall, trying to get all three other hyenas in front of him. He would have made a run for it, if not for the fact that he wouldn't be able to take three steps before Ed and Banzai were on him. Shenzi kept up her infatigable grin - though at this point she did look more conceited than malicious.

"I don't think I ever had you, B. Don't matter, looks like our new friend understands me perfectly, don't ya, pal? Us hyenas, we tend to be easygoing folks, by and large - but we do have a few rules. One of them is, if a male comes of age, he has to find a new clan - keeps fresh blood circulating, and gives you a chance to prove your worth. Another rule, is loyalty: once you find a new clan, they look out for you, and you look out for them - even if it kills you. If you're a male, that means sticking with your new family no matter what happens.

"But here you are, Kuz; you left your brith-clan, you found a new one... and then you left that one too! Not very loyal. Who would do such a thing, to just turn his back on his new family? Must be the lowliest kind of trash. Not the kind of hyena I would want to be part of my clan, that's for sure..."

Kuz squinted, gritted his teeth. She had him dead to rights.

Everything she said was true: he had deserted his former clan. Not by any fault of his own, mind you, but that didn't matter. You don't get second chances in the world of hyenas; no clan agrees to take in a reject, no matter what your story is. If Kuzinga had been honest about what happened, he would still be out on his own - and a hyena that's alone is as good as dead.

He didn't want to die.

So when the time came, he lied, desperate to find a new home. And now they caught him on that lie.

Regardless, he still didn't want to die. So he did the only thing that came to mind: he begged.

"Matriarch - Shenzi... you... you are right, this isn't the first clan I've joined. But you have to believe me, I didn't do anything wrong, it was just bad luck, and then... I... I was alone, and I didn't know what to do, I was hungry... Then I came across this place... I just wanted a place I could call home! Please, I'm begging you, don't send me back out there. I'll do anything, just don't make me leave!"

Shenzi suddenly burst out in a shrill, cackling laugh.

"Leave?" she gasped, having recovered her senses a bit, "You're not as smart as I thought you were, are you? You think I would have bothered with this bit of theater if I simply wanted you gone? Hell, I'd have just gotten someone to chase you off, easy as that. No, Kuz, buddy, pal, friendo... guy. Mi casa es tu casa, and all that jazz. Plenty of room left in the Pridelands, anyway. As I said, you're part of our family now."

Really now? Kuzinga looked at Shenzi, his eyes filled with disbelief. She met his stare without flinching, or talking. Now convinced she was telling the truth, he threw himself at her paws.

"I... I don't know what to say! Thank you, thank you!"

"Ain't no thang, Kuz. It's just that, as part of our family, you have to shoulder your share of responsibilities - you understand! This little talk here, it's to motivate you, make you realize how good you have it..."

Then she added, whispering:"And how much worse it could be... right?"

"Of course!" At that point, Kuzinga was about ready to agree to anything Shenzi asked of him. That's where she wanted him all along.

"Great! I'm sure we'll be the bestest of friends! Speaking of friends, you remember how I said your name came up when me and Banzai were discussing our _other_ new friends - the lions? I didn't think much of them for the longest time, to be honest - too pushy, hairy, stinky..."

"And ugly!"

"Quite. But you know, our new king Scar - you met him yet? Tawny type, black manes, sleek... a bit flamboyant... likes to talk, and talks very well at that. Have I mentioned he's a lion, and our new king? Anyway, Scar made some very good points, gave a few most convincing speeches, and you know what, I'm willing to give lions another shot! Can't we all just get along?"

"Beats being at each others' throats," Kuzinga agreed.

"My thoughts exactly! The thing is, I like to know about someone before I can call them a friend. Like now, I know some more things about you now, so we can be best of friends! The more I know, the better. And knowing truly useful things is best of all. But those lions... I just don't know anything about them, really. I know Scar, in a way, but that's about it.

"What are their names? Who is related to whom? Do some lionesses not like other lionesses? Do some of them really not like hyenas, in a murderey sort of way? And maybe others are not at all enthused about our new king. Some of them must have secrets they don't want coming out. What can we do to get this or that lioness to play nice, how do we get them to do what we want? Anyone particularly close to them we can, you know, work through?

"All very basic stuff, really. Once I have all that figured out, being friends with the lions, and looking out for our clan, will be that much easier for me. Thing is, I can't just go and ask Scar - for all his wordiness, he can be really... difficult to talk to. And the lionesses, I don't think they like me very much right now. In fact, they don't like any of us all that much - most would probably kill us if given the chance, really.

"So there's a chance for you to really shine, new guy. Figure out how to, you know, get in there, make nice with the lions, and find out all those little things I'd like to know about. You think you're up to the challenge?"

Did he even have a choice? You have to admire Shenzi's instincts; who else could she have found that she could pressure so effectively into taking up so thankless, even dangerous a job? With the boldness of someone with little left to lose, Kuzinga unthinkingly summed up Shenzi's offer in the starkest possible terms.

"You want me to try and spy on the lions - who might kill me if they find out, or kill me regardless, because, you know, lions. And if I don't want to do that, you'll throw me out - and that'll be the end of me, too. Either way, all you stand to lose is a newcomer, and a male at that - bottom of the heap. No need to risk any of your sisters, or your friends," Kuzinga nodded towards Ed and Banzai.

Shenzi just grinned widely.

"I think you and me will get along juuust fine!"

* * *

 **Author's note: so here's our first look at the other side of the Pridelands' divide. I hope I managed to recapture some of the hyenas' scariness they had back in the first scene of the original movie, even if I can't quite get all the humor right. Don't worry, next chapter it's back to the lions, although the two sides will inevitably meet now that they're kinda sorta going to try and live together.**


	4. Can't get out

**preface: this one has a cliffhanger at the end.**

* * *

 **Can't get out**

"We can't go on like this - she needs rest!"

Tuli stopped and turned around. She saw Zira looking at her, eyes big, glowing faint in the weak moonlight. Pleading, desperate - and angry. Behind her, not quite out of earshot, was a third lioness, barely visible in the dark and struggling to catch up with her friends. Her gait was halting and awkward, and she tried in vain not to put too much weight on one of her backpaws with a long black smear running alongside it.

They were out in the deep of night, traversing a great flat plain only intermittently illuminated by a moon obscured more often than not by passing clouds. It was getting colder. Dead grass turned to dust underfoot, revealing dry, cracked earth, and all around them bunched clusters of parched, thorny bushes. The few trees they could see loomed barren and lifeless. They could hear no sounds but the soft thuds of their own paws, and when the third lioness caught up, that too gave way to eerie silence.

Zira could tell Tuli did not want to stop in this place. Neither did Zira. But then she looked at her other friend, the lioness named Kuti. Her eyes were listless and sunken, fur matted and lifeless on skin taut over bones now all clearly visible - Kuti looked ghastly. Not long ago, she'd been a stunning beauty, easily the most attractive of the trio, with her glowing bronze fur and those rare, bright-blue eyes you would sometimes see in lionesses of their former pride. No lion would have been able to resist one of her sultry, mischievous looks. But as she sat there now, breathing heavily, wheezing slightly, she looked nothing so much as a corpse.

Then again, Zira wondered, does Tuli look that much better? Do I?

"This place isn't safe, Zira. We don't have anywhere to hide here - there's no caves or burrows."

"There's no place to hide anywhere!" Zira shouted, annoyed at Tuli's matter-of-fact tone, thinking her dismissive, "We could walk a full day and night in any direction without running into anything other than more flats..."

Tuli looked around, frowning. Leafless, gangly trees and barren shrubs for as far as the eye could see, growing ever more shadowy, finally fading out into absolute blackness beyond her field of vision. She couldn't see all that far in the dark, but she knew Zira was right: there hadn't been any landmarks ahead during the daytime, so a comfy cave complex wasn't likely to just spring up out of the darkness now. And just as importantly, she could hear the anger in Zira's voice. Tuli didn't want Zira to be angry with her.

"All right," she relented, "You two stay put, I'll see if I can't find a ditch or something nearby, get some shelter at least..."

Even though she had gotten what she asked for, Zira couldn't help but hope for Kuti to object, act like nothing was amiss to reassure them, and maybe even volunteer to go looking for a hideout herself - back to her old self again! But she just sat there staring into the void, silent and listless. Zira felt a stabbing pain in her stomach, even more piercing than the constant pangs of hunger; she knew things were bad, but hand't realized quite how bad.

When they first started out, Kuti had been the one to take charge. It had even been her idea to flee in the first place, while they still could. She was the oldest, and by far the boldest, so naturally she was the natural leader for their little band.

There had still been four of them, then. Zira, Tuli, Kuti... and Kumata.

Kuti would take turns walking with each of the other three, always chatting to try and keep their spirits up, made sure no-one fell behind. She spent a lot of time with Kumata, especially. Kumata had been the odd one out, being the only male, and significantly younger than the lionesses. He was just a kid, really, and Kuti couldn't help but mother over him.

It was especially hard on her when they lost him, the only other time Zira had known her to go silent like that. It had been inevitable, though: Kumata was just too young, and the first leg of their journey had been particularly hard. He couldn't keep up. Youngsters need to stay put, with a pride looking after them. Out here, they die. Didn't make it any easier, though; they were all in a very dark place then.

They'd only been able to keep going thanks to Kuti: she recovered quickly, and helped drag the others out of the pits of despair. With her help, they soldiered on, hungry, and hunted, but determined.

Then they were attacked again. Luckily, they all made it out... only this time, Kuti got hurt. The bleeding stopped quickly enough, and she made light of it all, so Zira figured it musn't have been that bad. But the wound didn't heal, and Kuti started falling ever farther behind. She couldn't run, she couldn't hunt (if there had been anything to hunt!), and as time went on she grew more silent. Worried for her best friend, Zira started lagging, too, keeping with Kuti.

All this left Tuli out in front - cautious, placid Tuli, the last lioness anyone would look to for leadership. Things had gotten pretty bad indeed.

Zira inched over to Kuti.

"Sorry for this, Coots... You doing okay? You've been awfully silent..."

"It's okay, Zira," Kuti replied hoarsely, "Just a bit hungry, you know? They'd better have some good prey on the other side of these flats, or I'm going to kick somebody's ass!"

When the lioness tried to force a laugh, she started shivering badly. Zira quickly got Kuti to lay down on the ground, and then went to lay next to her and put her forpaws around her chest. She could feel the outline of Kuti's spine against her stomach, and her ribs under her paws. The other lioness was glowing.

The shivering subsided.

"Thanks, Zira," she whispered, "Guess I'm not doing as well as I thought, huh?"

"It's just cold out tonight, 's all," Zira replied, almost believing it herself, "You'll be all right, we just have to settle down for the night, move on tomorrow when it's warmer."

Kuti replied only with a contented murmur. They'd lain there for a while, keeping each other warm, when suddenly Tuli reappeared out of the brush. She looked startled to find them like that.

"You guys, is everything all right?"

To Zira's surprise, Kuti was the first to get back up and respond. Seemed like she recovered a bit.

"We're fine, just cold, and tired..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to keep walking all night. I just don't want to stay in this place too long, you know? It's as dead and barren as anything else we've come through..."

"It's all right, Tuli, you're doing good. Keep this up, and you'll get us to a new home yet," Kuti managed a weak smile, "You find a good place for the night?"

Zira could see Tuli's face brighten at the compliment. Zira and Kuti had been best friends since childhood, but neither of them had been very close with Tuli, so it was hard on her now that it was down to just the three of them. Mercifully, Kuti made every effort to include her. Zira tried too, but she had a harder time dealing with Tuli's sometimes aloof manner.

"It's just this way, come on."

She led them to a sunken earthen crater surrounded by a few sparse bushes. During the daylight, you'd be able to see right through. Not a perfect hiding place, but at least it was slightly below ground-level, giving shelter from the wind, or any nighttime passerby's who didn't pay too close attention. The lionesses curled up next to each other in the center of the pit.

"Someone should try to stay awake, and keep watch," Tulli suggested as she watched Zira put her chin on Kuti's neck, "I'll take first shift..."

"Okay. Wake me up if you get too tired, I'll take over." Zira didn't really want to be woken up hallway through, but you have to at least offer.

"Right, see ya in a bit then." Tuli turned back, clambered out of the pit, and started patiently stalking around their hiding place. Befor she had done even one tour of the pit, Zira was allready fast asleep.

Suddenly, Tuli.

"Zira! Come on, Zira, wake up. Sorry, but I can't stay awake, gotta get some sleep."

"But I wasn't awake to start with," Zira grumbled annoyedly. How long had it been? The moon had gone completely, hard to see anything even with a lion's nightvision. Was it just the clouds, or getting closer to the dawn?

"You're awake now. It shouldn't be long until sunrise, and then we'll move on..."

Oh, great. So she had to stay awake until sunrise, and then they'd head out again - meaning that the paltry nap Tuli had just woken her from was the only sleep she'd be getting. Why even bother going to sleep at all if that is all you get out of it? But at least Kuti would get a double ration. Yawning, Zira took up position outside the pit, beyond the surrounding bushes. Now that it had gone completely dark, the place looked a lot different from what she remembered. Anything outside her immediate surroundings had become a shadowy blur. She circled their hiding place once, then twice, mostly to keep busy, but it felt pretty pointless; why bother looking around when she couldn't see anything to start with?

It made a lot more sense to settle down quietly, and simply try listening for trouble. Don't need any light for listning, and the place was pretty quiet besides. She would her any unwanted visitor coming a mile away if she didn't make any noise herself herself. So Zira settled down among the brush shielding the pit from view, and took to simply listening. Listening, and hearing nothing for the longest time...

Zira woke up with a start.

What was that? Where am I? Oh, right... ugh, I must have fallen asleep...

There it was again, a sound to her left. The wind? Someone walking through the bushes? Zira got up, cautiously moving towards the source of the sound. She couldn't see anything...

Then, the same sound, but to her right. Ahead of her. To the left again, but not the same place as before. Zira felt her heart-rate going up involuntarily, and she started taking ever bigger breaths. Where before she wanted to investigate, she now had to restrain herself from not making a blind dash into the night, away from the sounds. She started slowly backing up towards the pit. That's when the moon broke through the clouds again, and suddenly cast the whole scene in stark silvery light. A dozen pairs of staring eyes gleamed in the night, all fixed on Zira. Without a second's thought, she jumped back into the pit, screaming her friends awake.

"HYENAS! RUN!"

* * *

Zira shot up with a vicious growl. Eyes wide, claws out, every muscle in her body tensed. Her lips pulled back, bearing her fangs. She could feel the blood coursing madly through her veins - she was ready to kill anyone who came at her.

"Zira? Are you all right?"

That voice...

As if by magic, all the panic, terror, anxiety and tension she felt dissolved itself. The pressure she felt on her chest released, the knot in her stomach came undone. It gave her the chance to look around. She wasn't out on the plains anymore, but on a ridge under a large rocky overhang, looking out over pleasant green hill that stretched almost to the horizon. Not the deep of night, but rather the middle of a bright, hot and sunny day. Zira turned around. There, only inches away from her, was Tuli. She lay spread out over the rocks, one paw dangling lazily over the edge of their perch, and the only indication of being awake was her upraised head. Her eyes looked tiny, and her the fur on her head was a bit ruffled.

"Crap, I'm sorry... I guess I woke you up, huh?"

"It's..." Tuli yawned, and kept at it for the longest time, "It's nothing... Having those dreams again?"

Zira swallowed. They'd done this so many times now: Zira would wake in a panic, and Tuli would be there to calm her back down. It was fine, they didn't have to run anymore, they had a pride again. They were safe. But Zira din't feel safe, she never felt safe - not until she saw Tuli.

"Yeah... but it's over, I'm good now... You look tired, get back to sleep!" Zira couldn't help but make it sound like an order. I order you not to be inconvenienced. Tuli smiled sleepily.

"Whatever you say, boss. If you need me, I'll be right..." Her sentence ended in a snore.

Zira settled back down, too, but sleep wouldn't come. The panic might have subsided, but that dream had still left her all amped up and wide awake. Frustratedly, she got up, cast a parting glance at Tuli, and clambered down the rocky ledge. Following a narrow track winding down the Priderock peak, she ended up on the plaza below the promontory.

It was the hottest part of the day, leaving the air directly above the stamped-earth courtyard simmering. Not the best time to be out and about, but Zira shrugged it off. She'd had worse. It did mean she wouldn't encounter a single other lioness - they were all reposing in the main den to escape the worst of the day's heat. The main den might have been the most comfortable place in all Priderock, but Zira never slept there. Too many other lionesses. She was always more at ease finding a quiet place for herself - or with Tuli.

Zira crossed the plaza, and simply kept walking. She din't really have a destination or goal in mind, shed' just walk until she got tired, or until the sun started to set, whichever came first, and then she'd get back home. She wasn't getting any sleeping done, so it was as good a way to spend her day as any. She only met one other animal near Priderock: a lone hyena was lounging in the shade of a small copse of trees, and stirred when Zira neared.

It was only a single hyena, yet the sight of him stirred in Zira's mind the recollection of the attack she had just been forced to relive. And just like that, she was angry again. The lioness growled a vicious curse, and pulled a quick sprint in his direction. The hyena scampered off with a panicked yelp.

Good! I've about had my fill of those disgusting creatures stinking up the place. And how's that working out for you, Scar, letting the hyenas into the Pridelands? I bet that idea lost a lot of its shine when they crashed your coronation!

Zira paused. Why had he allowed that scum back into the Pridelands anyway? Zira vaguely remembered having a conversation along those lines with Tuli, but had no recollection of them ever settling on any one conclusion. Zira started walking again, but she kept mulling over the question of Scar and the hyenas. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made - not based on what she knew, anyway. The feeling of not knowing, not understanding - it drover her mad. She paused again, and looked around.

Without really noticing it, her paws had taken her a long way from Priderock. Just ahead of her, curling through the green hills like an enormous sandy snake, lay the Gorge. A fairly shallow, wide canyon cut into soft stone, that almost ran the length of the Pridelands. She'd never had the chance to witness it herself, but supposedly, when the rainy season got particularly bad, it filled up to become a great river.

This was where Mufasa died. She'd seen the body herself, along with the rest of the pride, when they had come to pay their respects the day after Scar announced the terrible news. Some of the lionesses broke down in tears, others looked away - pointedly, Sarabi never broke down, or looked away, even if tears ran down her face throughout. Zira remembered just staring at the dead king, feeling nothing.

Ahadi had been the one to take her in, all that time ago, and she had been sad when he passed away soon after. But his son, Mufasa... Zira never felt great love for him. Ahadi had been a king, Mufasa just played one. And the last iteration, Scar, had the same problem, except that he was even less convincing at it. Though, admittedly, he did look the part, moreso than his brother. Sure, Mufasa was more physically imposing by far, but Scar's looks were closer to those of Ahadi, with his unruly black mane and enigmatic green eyes. Score one for Scar on that front - a handsome lion, if absolutely nothing else.

Zira stalked along the edge of the canyon for a while, until she came across a depression in the rock-wall. It made for a perfect ramp into the Gorge. She sauntered down casually. Once below, she admired the view for a while: steep rock faces rising up on both sides, framed by trees, with the sun still directly overhead. Made her feel small.

It took her some time to remember the place where Mufasa had been found, but she eventually came across the very recognizable dead tree jutting out from a rocky outcropping right where the canyon narrowed a bit. Nothing remained to indicate the place had been the scene of such a recent tragedy - vultures and other scavengers had made sure of that.

I bet that Circle of Life seems a lot less grand when it's your turn to get eaten, Zira thought, smirking.

"Trampled," she wondered out loud. She was surprised at the amount of echo coming back at her.

If my voice gets amplified like that, imagine what kind of noise a rampaging herd of wildebeest makes!

Zira frowned. Must have been hard to miss, all that sound. Yet, if you heard Scar telling it, Simba had managed to get himself caught by surprise when the wildebeest swarmed down the canyon, whereupon his father tried in vain to save him, dying in the attempt. Zira looked around again. There were a few other ramps within viewing distance, not all that different from the one she had used to enter the Gorge - some steeper, others not quite as steep. Along most of the Gorge, even with little warning, you could conceivable make it out after hearing the approaching stampede, if you ran. But, supposing Simba had been caught by the sound of the approaching wildebeest in a particularly bad spot, she could see him not finding a way out in time - doubly so because he had only those little cub-legs to carry him.

So there is Simba, suddenly hearing a distant rumbling. It takes him a while before he figures out what is going on. He starts running, desperately looking for a way out of the canyon - but the wildebeest catch up with him before he finds anything. No way a cub can outrun a rampaging wildebeest, so he clings onto a dead tree hoping to stay above the fracas. He loses his grip, falls down.

They both died right here, on this spot. Zira tried to remember what exactly Scar had told the pride. Him and Mufasa had been patrolling nearby, when they heard a cry for help. Next thing Scar knew, they were standing at the Gorge's edge, looking down, seeing Simba struggle. They scrambled to find a way down, but then Simba fell, and Mufasa simply jumped down into the canyon in a desperate attempt to save his son. That was the last time Scar saw his brother alive, disappearing into the mad torrent of raging beasts.

Zira looked up. The edges of the canyon didn't rise as high here, and the side nearest Priderock looked more like a steep slope that a sheer face. You'd probably end up breaking all fours if you jumped from the top of the canyon, but scampering down that slope? That'd work. Was Mufasa mad enough to simply jump down in one go? Or did he rush down the slope... only to get crushed by the wildebeest?

Poor sod. Too bad he got trampled _right away_ \- I could see a lion climbing back up that slope and make it out.

Zira studied the canyon wall again. Perfectly climbable, except maybe for the last bit where the rock face turns vertical again - that might not work out. Still, worth a shot - beats getting trampled. The king should've just dodged the wildebeest, grabbed his son, and climbed out - or at least try to.

If I had to, I could have, Zira thought, I could have definitely made that climb. Pretty sure I could do it even now.

Why not?

Zira backed up a bit, did a quick sprint, and jumped. She landed more than a third of the way up the slope, but could feel herself sliding back down immediately. Hard to get a grip. It took her a while to dig in her paws in all the right places, stop the backslide. Then, claws outstretched and very cautiously, she started climbing up, always holding three paws in place while she sought a new place to put the fourth. Every muscle in her body strained with effort, and she was panting by the time she came to the last, vertical part of the cliff.

Very careful now, one paw here, feel if I can't find anything to grab on to there...

She was almost at the very top, when one of her backpaws suddenly slipped away. It was a close call, but she managed to recover, digging all her claws in the soft, yielding stone. Exhausted, trembling, she pushed her head sideways against the rocks.

Then suddenly, looking straight at it, she noticed. A little bit to the right of where she was now, on a part of the cliff she hand't been climbing, too far away to be visible from down below, or from the other side: two groups of four scratch-marks each, long and deep. Right at the spot where Mufasa had died, a lion had tried climbing out of the canyon.

The startling realization gave Zira the boost she needed to climb all the way up.

* * *

 **postscript: get it? 'cause she hangs from a cliff.**


	5. Meet Nala

**preface: this chapter started out as just an intro to the next chapter, but it ballooned a bit.**

* * *

 **Meet Nala**

The other lionesses hadn't bothered waking her up. They had assembled for a hunt, taken a headcount, and realized Tuli wasn't with them. No-one knew where she was, either; her and Zira were always off somewhere, sleeping away from the communal den. They could have gone looking around Priderock to try and find her, but most lionesses were pretty eager to get down to the business of hunting. They left without her. By the time Tuli woke up late in the evening, after dark, and went down to the plaza at the base of Priderock, the rest of the pride had already returned from the hunt, and they'd already eaten, too. Most of them still had their muzzles caked in blood.

Upon encountering Tuli, they were quick to offer all kinds of apologies for not inviting her, of varying sincerity. The other lionesses still looked on her as an outsider, seeing as how Zira and her had been allowed into the pride only a little over a year earlier. It didn't help matters that Zira insisted on keeping her distance, ever suspicious and distrustful, dragging Tuli along. Tuli didn't mind. If she had to endure a bit of isolation for Zira's sake, so be it. That's what friends are for. She could handle a lot worse if it came to that. Zira and her would go through hell and back again for one another. They'd already done as much, really.

She wasn't about to blame the other lionesses, either. If Zira and her chose to keep their distance, it wouldn't be fair to expect the others to go out of their way to include them in everything they did. True, when she saw the other lionesses lounging around contentedly with their bellies full of meat, it stung a bit at first - no one likes to be left out. But Tuli simply let the feeling flow over her, took a moment to look at it from the other lionesses' perspective, and then counted her blessing for being part of the pride.

She joined the rest of the lionesses now busy cleaning and grooming themselves, and struck up a conversation with Winda, mother of Chumvi, one of the older cubs. She asked her about the hunt they'd just been through. Turns out it had been an exciting affair: they had set out to hunt zebra, and settled on a large stallion with a crippled foreleg. Hunting a stallion is a bit of a risk, of course, with their strength and temperament, but there's also a lot of meat on them to make it worthwhile. Plus, how hard can it be to bring down a cripple?

Pretty hard, it turned out.

"So there we were, right, our ambush in place, waiting for the others to drive him away from the herd and into our paws. And that part of the plan went off without a hitch. So you've got this big-ass zebra ambling towards us; beautiful, glistening coat, and you can see the bulging muscles working underneath - my mouth waters just thinking about it! So he's coming at us, but he don't know we're there. Then, BAM, we all jump at him, and of course he's in a panic, but he can't go anywhere with that broken leg of his.

"I jump on, and I try to just grab hold anywhere I can, right - we're just trying to bring him down at that point, so it doesn't really matter, just piling on as much weight as possible. Once he's down, someone else can come up and do the killing. I dig my claws in his flank, super juicy, and I'm thinking, I got this, he ain't going anywhere. Might as well have a quick look at how the others are doing. I look to the side, and who do I see but Sarafina, the Leader of the Hunt herself, crouching to jump at the zebra's backside.

"And I'm thinking, damn girl, watch out, don't come at a zebra from behind, you're old enough to know how dangerous that is. Guess what happens not even halfway through my thoughts - she gets a kick right in the face! And if a zebra kicks ya, that's no joke - buggers could probably kick right through a rock wall if they wanted to. Sarafina topples over backwards, drops down, and doesn't move anymore - looked damn near gruesome, I just couldn't stand it, had to look away.

"So, you know, we finish up with that zebra - kicking Sarafina was pretty much the last thing he ever did, 'cause his knees buckled right after, and as soon as he was down Sarabi went and finished him off. When I felt like I could be sure the zebra wasn't getting up again, I got off, and went to check on Sarafina - mind you, there's already like three others standing around her at this point, and everyone has this grave look on their faces. We're all basically thinking, this is it, she's done, ain't no-one getting back up after that kind of kick. And she _was_ looking bad, not moving at all, nasty gash where the hoof had connected...

"Then suddenly, she opens her eyes, and everyone just backs away, shocked. It's like she's come back from the dead, right? She grunts, lifts her head up, and then she asks: "Did we get him?" Can you believe it? Just, did we get him. So I step up, and I don't really know what to say, so I just go, yeah, we got 'im. And Sarafina just nods, gets up, a bit unsteady at first, but she's really totally fine. And she says: "What are you waiting for, then? Let's eat." And she just digs in. Heavens, she almost died! But she just gets up, shakes it off, and moves on to dinner. Pretty crazy, huh?"

A pretty close call, Tuli agreed. It made her a bit worried for Sarafina, though. She took her leave from Winda, and went to have a look at the injured lioness. Turns out she was hardly the first - by then, pretty much the entire pride had asked her if everything was all right, and she was getting pretty sick of their concern. Still, the Leader of the Hunt allowed Tuli to have a good look at her now swollen face - she had missed the live action, after all. And it wasn't like Sarafina could order Tuli to leave her alone - not in theory, anyway.

As far as these things go, the lionesses of a pride are fairly egalitarian among themselves. There's always the lion on top, regardless of whether he calls himself king, but beyond that no-one really gets to pull rank on anyone else. That's not to say that some lionesses aren't more respected than others, or looked up to. One obvious example was Sarabi, the queen - or rather, former queen. When you take something up with a queen, there's always the unspoken fact that she has special access to the king. And in the case of Sarabi, you should also consider that she made every effort to act queenly, so to speak, plainly choosing to say and do things that she considered right and proper, even if it wasn't what she herself wanted to say or do. That doesn't necessarily win many friends, but it does earn you respect; Sarabi could always be relied upon to be above the fray, and be relied on generally.

Sarafina was another special case - she was the Leader of the Hunt. In principle, all that meant is that the other lionesses had decided she would lead the communal hunts. But the mere fact she had been so chosen told you a lot about how the others felt about her. She was from an old Pridelander lineage, a good huntress, a decent enough leader, but most importantly, she got along well with the other lionesses - she had an endearing no-nonsense gruffness about her. So even though Sarafina had no formal authority to order her around, Tuli'd still do well to listen carefully to what the other lioness had to say.

Their talk was pleasant enough, though. Sarafina seemed not much worse for the wear, and she even managed to make light of the whole affair. Most importantly, she didn't have any headaches or dizziness, which indicated she had weathered the blow quite well. If the gash on her face didn't leave too much of a scar, she'd be good as new in days. Once it became clear that she would be fine, Tuli made sure not to keep the other lioness any longer - it didn't take a shaman to figure out that Sarafina wanted nothing more than to be left alone so she could lay down for a long overdue and well deserved after-dinner nap.

Sarafina had already lain down and closed her eyes. Tuli was just about to take her leave, when she noticed the lightly-colored bundle of fur that lay cradled between the other lioness' paws, sobbing quietly. Tuli bent a little closer. The furry bundle stirred, and up perked the head of a young lioness. Her fur was ruffled, and her eyes looked wet from the tears. Tuli knew this cub to have deep, blue eyes, but now they shone silver in the moonlight, looking up at her. It was Nala, Sarafina's only cub. She looked a bit frightened. Of course she did, Tuli thought, the poor girl probably doesn't even know me - it's not like Zira and I get to spend a lot of time minding the cubs when we're keeping aloof of the other lionesses all the time.

"Hello, little one. You're Nala aren't you?"

The cub nodded shyly.

"Nice to meet you, Nala. My name is Tuli. Maybe you don't know me that well - I don't think we've really spoken before..."

"H-hello," Nala managed, sniffing, "Nice to meet you, too..."

Nala had seen this lioness before, but only from a distance.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you all right? I thought I heard you crying just now."

"I-I wasn't crying."

Nala took on a slightly more defiant air, though not wholly convincing. Tuli couldn't help but smile. She'd wanted to act tough, too, when she was that age, figuring that if she didn't act like a little cub, the other lions would stop treating her like one all the time. Of course it never worked, if only because she never could keep up the act for long. Neither would Nala.

"Okay, I believe you," Tuli said, turning her gaze back to Sarabi, now sound asleep, "Don't worry. Your mom will be fine, you know."

Bullseye. Tears started welling up in Nala's eyes again.

"Then why are you here?" she snapped, "If she'll be fine, why did everyone come over here and stare at her? Why did they all look so scared?"

As she tearily barked questions at Tuli, Nala had gotten up and advanced a few paces. The older lioness, by contrast, sat down, forepaws crossed in front of her. Their eyes were now level.

"Do I look scared to you now?"

"No," Nala admitted, "But you did just now, when you talked to mom!"

"I wasn't scared. I was a bit worried at first, though. Did your mom tell you what happened?"

"No... when she came back from the hunt, she just came to find me, and I remember she licked my face, and I could tell she'd hurt herself, but before I could ask what was wrong, the other lionesses started asking all those questions..."

Well..." Tuli frowned, "I can tell you're a smart enough lioness - you've already pieced together what happened, then."

"My mom almost died!"

"She's fine now, though..."

"You don't get it, she could have been killed! That zebra could have killed her and she wouldn't be here anymore! She'd be dead, like king Mufasa, like Simba!"

The last part, Nala almost shouted, now positively angry. Tuli could tell there was more going on there than just Sarafina's accident. Cubs her age shouldn't talk about death, it shouldn't even register as a concept, much less a lived experience. But here Nala was, not even a year old, and she had already had to deal with the death of her friend Simba. What can you say to a cub like that, justifiably angry at the world?

"I do get it. When I was young, I lost almost all of my friends. I wasn't as young as you, though - I suppose that would make it harder still."

That seemed to get Nala's attention. Some of her anger dissipated, turning to regret, and she looked down at her paws.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that..."

"It's okay, it happened a long time ago, in another pride," Tuli gave Nala a little bump with her nose, to get her to look back up. "You know, we adults don't like to talk to cubs about death - because it's too hard on you, we say to ourselves, and you won't understand..."

This made Nala frown angrily again.

"... but really, we only half-understand it ourselves."

For a little while, neither of them said anything, and Nala alternated between looking pensively at at Tuli, and looking away ruefully. Finally, she spoke again, barely more than a whisper.

"It hurts... For a while it won't, but then I think about Simba again, and I know he isn't here anymore. I can think about him, but I'll never see him again. Knowing that hurts... I-I'll never get to play with him again, never get to joke with him again...

"And then I heard about my mom having an accident, and I thought what it would be like if she wasn't here anymore, how it would feel... If she wouldn't be here for me, if I couldn't cuddle up next to her... Just thinking about it hurt just as bad."

Nala sat down, looking miserably. Now it was Tuli's turn to get up.

"Nala," she said, "Nala, a lot of thing could happen. Most don't. Right now, your mom is still here. She's here with you now, and she's fine. If you want to be with her, that's what you should do. If you want to know what it feels like to cuddle up to her, you can do that, right now. Doesn't that count for something?"

For a second, Nala looked puzzled. Rightly so, Tuli thought, what do I know about these things, anyway? Still, that last part seemed like gook enough advice.

"Go on, don't just sit there," she smiled, and gently shoved the cub in the direction of Sarafina. Nala obliged, and nestled herself in one of her mother's paws. Reflexively, still asleep, Sarafina pulled her daughter closer.


	6. Eternal enemies

**preface: this chapter didn't feel as massive when it was still just in my head... Anyway, in the description of this story, I said it would go into what it was like to live under the rule of Scar, and this chapter is mostly just about that; one lioness dealing with the new normal - though it's also setting things up for bigger plot-points later. Also, canon-warning: I'll be deviating from the movie-coloring of the hyenas. In the TLK universe, they're gray, but IRL, it's all yellows and browns, and I prefer to work with those.**

 **re ograndebatata ch5: Nala's overreaction is basically the result of her still being traumatized over Simba's death, something I'll touch on later. As for things going downhill in the Pridelands, I reckon I have a good two or three years of in-story time to work with, so plenty of room to slowly set everything up and then have things play out to their inevitable conclusion.**

 **re Kovukono: I honestly plan to try and cover pretty much everything - though if my chapters keep inflating like they're doing now, I might run into a wall at some point... Zira-arc, Nala-arc, Sarabi, Sarafina, obviously Scar... And then there's all my OC stinking up the place.**

 **re sarabiiiiii: glad you like it, and I hope you keep reading!**

* * *

 **Eternal enemies**

Tuli did not begrudge the other lionesses having gone hunting without her; it was an entirely understandable thing for them to do. All the same, it did leave Tuli hungry while everyone else was sated - no way she was going to be able to motivate any of them to do any hunting for at least a couple of days.

Zira still hand't shown up neither. Tuli remembered last seeing her the day before, when she woke her up in the middle of the day. That interruption had been why Tuli had slept way into the evening, and missed the hunt. And now, at the dawn of the following day, still no sign of her. It wasn't really any cause for concern - Zira hadn't quite been the most social type the past year, and she often spent time alone. Still, it would have been nice to have a hunting partner.

Only one thing for it, then: Tuli would have to go out looking for some breakfast all on her own. There are worse things in life. She waited until a little past daybreak: if you're out alone, it's easier if you can scan large areas for an easy opportunity, which requires daylight. By contrast, in a group, the numbers make it's possible to rustle an entire herd and single out the weakest members, so all you have to do is find the herd - easy enough to do even at night, with a dozen lionesses looking. But when alone, that's just the kind of thing to avoid, unless you like having your teeth kicked in by the more aggressive males of the herd.

Tuli set out without a clear direction in mind. She figured it would be easiest to cruise around from hilltop to hilltop, hoping to spot a meal down below. She encountered no other lionesses along the way; they were all still dozing in the Priderock den, digesting last night's meal. She did pass the odd hyena, but whenever she approached, they would move out of the way and stay far clear of her - which was fine by Tuli.

Back in her old pride, no-one ever had anything nice to say about hyenas. On the best of days a nuisance, but more often an outright threat. As a cub, whenever she was mischievous or careless, her mother would invoke the specter of hyenas coming to eat her - which ironically came close to happening only once she was older. They would steal kills from her pride whenever the opportunity presented itself - and the lions were more than happy to respond in kind whenever they happened upon a hyena hunt. There was little outright violence, but the older lionesses would sometimes recount tales of a lion that had ruled their pride in a dark past, and who was primarily remembered for killing a quite improbable number of hyenas. It was a tale told with glee.

Her current pride was even less sympathetic to the spotted scavengers. They had been banished from the Pridelands because they had at one point conspired to kill the king, or made war on the pride, or even outright killed a queen, and possibly all of those things - but it had happened almost three full generations back, so no-one was left alive to remember the specifics. Tuli always thought it odd that hyenas would have been part of the Pridelands in the first place - around her old pride, they kept their own territories. But whatever the case, the Pridelanders' animosity still ran deep - and as far as she could tell, the feeling was mutual.

None of that would fill her belly, though. Tuli ignored the scavengers, and kept on the lookout for a meal. The pickings were slim. A great many zebra and wildebeest roamed the plains, to be sure - but all of them adult, healthy, and gathered in herds. Tuli was a decent enough huntress, and she would be able to kill any one of those herbivores; it's just that it would be an incredibly risky venture. Sarafina's accident last night was never far out of her mind. So she kept looking for something easier.

All the while, the sun beat down mercilessly. Not quite withering, but still plenty uncomfortable after a while out in the open. Tuli went to sit down under an acacia ringed with lush, green undergrowth. She took the opportunity to brush past the greenery. As she ran her muzzle past the leaves, she could feel how the ones on the shadowy side of the tree still had dew on them. The vibrancy of the Pridelands still hadn't lost any of their wonder for her - but then again, she knew what it was like to live in deadlands. Now comfortable in the shadow of the tree, she let her gaze wander.

Then she saw an opportunity. A small herd of gazelle was foraging not all that far away; at this time of year, their ocher topcoats stood out quite starkly against the still green grasses. They weren't usually lions' fare; too fast and agile, basically - leave them to the cheetahs. On the other paw, nothing about them was dangerous, and even the impressive-looking horns were just for show. They were fairly small to boot, easy enough for just one lioness to bring down. And one particularly plump looking gazelle had wandered off, it would seem, and was now chewing it up fortuitously near a big spot of tall grass.

Tuli got up, and gauged where the wind was coming from - easy, there was no wind to be had. Then she circumspectly circled around and entered the patch of tall grass at the point farthest away from the gazelle. No sound of flight - she'd been far enough away not to get noticed. And now to sneak under the cover of the grass to get as close to the prey as possible. She hugged her body to the ground, tensed, and then started moving carefully, one paw before the other, making as little sound as possible - not even the level of a soft breeze. At first, all she could see was more grass, and she had to depend on her internal sense or direction. Eventually, though, she came near enough to the edge of the growth to be able to see through, and she froze, thinking: if I can see outside, someone on the outside might be able to see me.

But the gazelle hadn't noticed - it was still grazing obliviously, and in clear sight of Tuli. Now she'd have to wait - wait for the gazelle to either turn around, at which point Tuli would again sneak a bit closer, or wait for the prey to actually come to her, and that would prompt Tuli to sprint and pounce instantly.

For the longest time, neither happened. The beast kept grazing without coming nearer, and it always kept one eye on the grassy patch. Tui started feeling the day's heat again. A fly landed just outside her left eye. It tickled, and she'd as soon have wiped it away, but she remained entirely frozen - disciplined restraint is a necessary part of any hunt.

The gazelle shifted. Tuli now looked at its hindquarters, creamy white with a small tail outlined in black. Crunch time. Even more carefully than before, she snuck forward, vaguely aware of passing beyond the edge of the grass covering her - she was all in now: sneak up as close as possible and then break into a sprint.

A few things happened at once, then. Tuli imagined hearing a faint clucking sound, and before she even processed what she heard, the gazelle in front of her dashed away at a right angle from where it was facing before. Luckily, the lioness had reflexively darted in pursuit of her prey, not needing to fully comprehend what was happening before acting, and was now hot on the herbivore's heels.

With everything she had, she tried to accelerate and make up the distance between them. She was making some headway at it too, when the gazelle suddenly made another right-angle leap. This time, Tuli's speed was too high to correct in time, and when she was through taking a much wider turn, the gazelle had increased its lead by a couple of lengths again. Tuli strained to accelerate once more, legs burning, heart racing. But eventually, her speed started dropping off, while that of the gazelle only grew. Tuli slowed to a trot, panting, mouth wide open. It had got away. With the last of her breath, she hurled a profanity at the gazelle, now again at a safe distance.

Too fast and too agile after all.

Momentarily exhausted, Tuli dragged herself to the nearest patch of shade she could find and plopped down frustratedly. She'd come so close, but despite her best effort she still ended up with nothing to show for it. And now that she'd exerted herself so, the previously merely uncomfortable heat became neigh unbearable. She'd have to do something about that. Once she'd regained her breath, Tuli got back up, now with a renewed sense of purpose.

She needed a drink.

Trying to walk among the trees for shelter whenever possible, Tuli lazily made her way towards the watering hole. The watering hole was a small, permanent lake near the border of the Pridelands and the marshland beyond. It was fed by groundwater seeping in from the marshes, filtered trough the rock and earth separating it from the lake. Roughly banana-shaped, one part of the pond was ringed with rocky outcroppings and easily accessible for drinking or plunging, while the other end was clogged in thick reeds and palm trees. Tuli came at the lake from where the vegetation was thickest.

She'd strayed pretty far trying to find a suitable prey, and it was already past noon by the time she got to her destination. If she was going to avoid a heatstroke, she probably wouldn't get any more hunting done before evenfall.

"Might as well have slept through the day," she grumbled to herself as she trudged toward the water's edge, pushing aside reeds and thick grasses that sprang up from the soppy tangle of roots and mud underfoot, obscuring her view. The water steadily rose as she went on, becoming cooler as it got deeper. Not content with just a drink, she kept on wading until she couldn't feel anything under her paws anymore, and then paddled until she reached the edge of the reeds. Time for an impromptu refreshing swim!

That had been the plan anyway. Before Tuli got very far, however, the strain from her failed hunt made itself felt. The aching of her body all over took most of the fun out of swimming, and the feeling of exhaustion made her anxious to be out off the deep-end. She quickly doubled back to the nearest shore, pushing her way into another part of the vast forest of stalks blanketing the edge of the lake.

Can't hunt, can't go for a swim... Cursed day this is turning out to be. Gah, I really should have just stayed at Priderock doing nothing at all, she thought as she struggled to find a firm footing amidst the growth.

Then Tuli noticed something ahead of her, a little to the left. She couldn't quite see what it was through the reeds, but it had the look of a light brown hump sticking out of the water. Curious, she made her way there, and as she neared, the hump revealed itself to be covered in wet fur. An animal carcass, head and legs below the waterline, only the rump sticking out. A young kudu, from the looks of it. As it was, Tuli couldn't tell what had killed the beast, but it must have happened recently, as there wasn't yet any smell, and only minimal bloating. Although they are quick to reproach others for scavenging, no lion would pass up this opportunity for a meal.

It might as well have have been a fresh kill - wouldn't taste any different neither. What are the odds! Not stopping to wonder how the carcass got there, or to marvell at her sudden change of fortune, Tuli bit into one of the kudu's hind legs and started dragging it out of the water. No way was she going to dine among the muck. Once out of the reeds, she came upon a dry grassy clearing. That would do. She dropped her quarry right in the center. Wetting her lips in anticipation, and without much regard for anything else, Tuli prepared to dig into the animal's soft underbelly. She didn't notice the rustling on the far side of the expanse.

"Hey lady, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tuli looked up, startled. A couple of yards ahead of her stood three hyenas. The one in the middle was the tallest of the bunch, though they were all pretty small for hyenas. She also looked the angriest, fangs almost bared under her dark, squat muzzle, amber eyes fixed in an aggressive squint. A short but bristly brown mane ran the length of her thick neck, ending in a peak between two large oval ears that had a number of nicks and tears in them. Tuli couldn't tell the color of the rest of her fur, though, as she was caked up to her neck in fresh mud. It detracted from her aggressive demeanor somewhat.

"Excuse me?" Tuli asked, unsure if she should be angry at the interruption of her lunch, or amused at the sight of the muddied hyena.

"I said, what the hell you think you doin'? That's ours!"

Tuli looked down at the dead kudu for a moment, then back at the hyena.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Finders, keepers. Take a hike."

"It's ours, you thief! Mizuri found it first," the hyena snarled, indicating her companion on the right with a nod. This one was slightly shorter, her fur a light brown riddled with patches that had the same sandy color as her muzzle - only her paws had a darker, muddy color. The fluffy manes on her head and neck had a rusty tint to them. Where the biggest hyena looked angry, this one looked awed, staring at Tuli with her dark eyes open wide.

"No, I'm pretty sure I just found it in the water, with none of you anywhere near..."

"That's because Mizuri hid it there, stupid! Go on, Miz, tell her."

"She's right, I found the kudu out in the open, then I hid it in the water," the red-headed hyena managed with some difficulty, shrinking under Tuli's skeptical stare.

"Is that the best you could come up with?" Tuli snorted, "You found it first, only to leave it again? Not likely! Wanna know what I think? I think you all just came along by pure chance, saw me preparing to grab a bite, and smelled an easy meal. So now, in typical hyena fashion, you're trying to steal my food."

"No, that's not true at all!" the hyena called Mizuri blurted out, now loud and aggrieved, "That's not at all what happened! I found it, but then I hid it away so the vultures wouldn't get at it while I went looking for my friends! Vultures can't land in the reeds, and they don't like the water."

"Don't bother, Miz. These lions think they're so much better than us, they don't care what a hyena has to say. If you want something from them, you have to take it!"

With that, the larger hyena snarled, baring her fangs, and started slowly advancing on Tuli.

"Hasira, don't!" her red-headed friend squeaked, but she nonetheless quickly fell in with her companion. The third hyena hadn't said anything yet, and she didn't say anything then, but in stead started silently circling Tuli from the left. Together they formed an unmistakable pattern: two of them presenting Tuli with a solid front while the third moved to flank her. It was the preferred plan of attack for hyenas everywhere.

"Really, that's how you gals want to play it?" Tuli sighed incredulously, "And here I was thinking we were all supposed to be friends now."

So much for her easy meal. She took up position standing over the kudu, to make sure they wouldn't be able to snatch it away. The hyena called Hasira momentarily seemed to hesitate when it became clear Tuli wasn't about to run, but then continued her advance. Tuli had noticed the slight pause, though.

"You better step away, lioness. If you're not careful you're gonna end up hurting yourself!"

To the hyenas' surprise, Tuli's only response was to burst out laughing. It stopped them dead in their tracks. Once she was done, the lioness addressed herself to them.

"I knew you hyenas were jokers, but heavens, this takes the cake. I should be careful? Spare me - if I put my back into it, I could kill twice your number, and that with any of them double your size too. But just you three? I won't even break a sweat."

Tuli crouched low, ready to pounce. She could feel the Kudu touching her chest.

Now, for the first time, the hyena that had tried to flank Tuli on the left spoke up. She was the smallest of the trio, with a sharp snout and long, dark-brown manes, and a coat nearly black, broken by uneven lines of copper coloring.

"Guys, I don't think this lioness is playing - she's scarred up worse than old Kongwe."

I don't know who that is, but I'm sure it's not that bad, Tuli thought. Sure, her creamy yellow fur wasn't exactly pristine anymore - she'd been in more than a few fights before coming to the Pridelands. Bloody and nasty fights. But she liked to think she still had a cute face. That said, left wasn't her best side; a few broads strips of skin had gone missing there, leaving stark, naked scars behind.

"Hasira, it's not worth it," the hyena called Mizuri whined. In response, the bigger one snapped at her companion, who only nearly jumped out of the way. She ended up taking the advice, though.

"Fine! Bunch of cowards you are," she spat. After a last angry look at Tuli, she turned around and went skulking off, still fuming. The other two followed close behind, the red-headed one having a parting glance at Tuli. She still looked utterly awed at the sight of the lioness.

Once the hyenas were out of sight, Tuli breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, she could probably have taken those three on without too much difficulty, but there was always a measure of uncertainty involved in any fight. Beyond that, Tuli would rather not get into a fight if she could avoid it, purely on principle - hyenas they might be, but Tuli did not relish the idea of hurting them, or anyone else for that matter. True, she put on a bit of a show of belligerence just now, but a credible threat will go a long way towards avoiding a fight - doubtful they would have run if Tuli had acted scared and deferential, and then she would have either had to fight them, or lose a meal.

"Have to say, none of this is feeling particularly great, or glorious," she mumbled to herself before finally digging into the kudu of discord. Having the whole prey to herself, she went straight for the organ-meats - those were the best parts; all gooey and nutritious. Whenever she hunted with the other lionesses, those parts tended to be gone before she even got to eating. Especially when the king joined them - he always got first choice.

After stuffing herself relentlessly for a time, Tuli eventually took her head out of the bloody mess she'd made of the Kudu's gut, taking a breather and belching loudly. By now she was covered from head to chest in blood, with chunks and giblets drooping from her chin. Delicious!

Only now did she noticed she was being watched. The red-headed hyena from earlier sat at the edge of the clearing, giving a little start when Tuli looked up. Quickly, the lioness scanned the surroundings for the other hyenas, but they were nowhere to be seen. That didn't mean they weren't there, though. Persistent little thugs.

"I thought I told you and yours to leave me alone."

The hyena opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again. She looked down at her paws, hesitantly, but then got up and cautiously walked towards Tuli. With a snarl, the lioness took up position over her food again.

"If three of you couldn't take me on, what makes you think you'd fare any better?"

"I - I'm not here for that," the hyena stuttered quietly. She came to a halt at a safe distance, glancing at Tuli. There were those big eyes again - you'd think she'd never seen a lioness before. There was something in the way she looked at her that Tuli couldn't quite put to words.

"Well then?"

A strange sort of resoluteness suddenly came over the hyena, and the volume of her voice rose to match it, rendering her inappropriately loud.

"I'm here to apologize!"

That threw Tuli for a loop. Before she got a chance to say or ask anything, though, the hyena droned on, her back erect and stare fixed, as if she were reciting a speech.

"I think my friend Hasira acted inappropriately! She was loud, impolite and aggressive. She did not introduce herself, she didn't ask to hear your side of the story, and when we didn't get our way, she threatened you. And I was wrong for going along with it. Your king was kind enough to allow us into the Pridelands, and if we want to live together, acting like this simply isn't right!"

The silence that followed in the wake of her recital was quickly subsumed by the buzz of cicadas.  
"Yeah, your friend did come at me pretty hard," Tuli mumbled, not quite embarrassed, but certainly feeling awkward, "Apology accepted, I guess. You're still not getting the Kudu, though."

"T-That's fine," the hyena replied, returning to her previous diminutive posture, "It's just that the way you spoke just now, you made it sound like you thought hyenas were bad, and thieves, and... I don't know... It's just want you to know that's not true."

"Okay."

The hyena shot a longing glance at what remained of the kudu, but then went back to staring at her paws. When she first saw the hyena, Tuli had thought those paws had darker colored fur than the rest of her belly, but on closer inspection, they just turned out to be a bit wet, and covered in mud. Come to think of it... There were three hyenas, one angry and all covered in mud, this one, and the darker one. And the angry one had gestured at this one to indicate she'd supposedly found, and then hid the kudu.

"I should go, let you get back to your meal..." The hyena started to leave, before Tuli stopped her.

"Hey, wait! I wanna ask you something."

The hyena looked back. Tuli finally realized what it was she saw in her eyes - it was bleeding obvious, but she just hadn't thought to even consider it before: what she saw was total and utter sincerity. Now there's a rare sight.

"Your friend, the angry one, she was all covered in mud. Did you join her, is that like a thing you guys do?"

"No, it was just Hasira - I found her like that. Mud baths are fun, but I didn't have one."

"Then why were your legs all wet and muddy?"

"That must have been from when I..." The hyena started out wanting to say she got her paws dirty hiding the kudu, but thought the better of it. She'd given up on that - the meal was a goner. It was all about making a better impression on the lioness, to try and show she could be a good Pridelander-hyena, and to make the arrangement the king had decreed for all of them work.

Thing is, at that point, having heard the little speech, seeing the muddy paws, and realizing quite frankly just how guileless the hyena in front of her was, Tuli had about figured out what was actually going on. She had to keep her jaw from dropping in sheer amazement: here she was, feasting on a kill the hyena had obviously found first and that Tuli had in effect taken - yet it was the hyena that came apologizing to her. True, her leaving the prey unattended for anyone to find complicated the issue - but by that point, Tuli had lost her appetite for contention, and for the meat.

"Oh boy," she sighed, now most definitely embarrassed, "This is all wrong... You really did find the kudu first, didn't you?"

The hyena still didn't dare say anything.

"And you were really going to let me get away with taking it... no, you even apologized for it. Yeah, that won't do - go find your friends again. I ate a bunch of it already, but there's some good meat left on it..."

"You... you're letting us have the..." the hyena was dumbstruck in disbelief.

"It's yours, isn't it? Heavens, I should be the one apologizing, I already ate all the best bits."

"Really? You'd really do that? That's amazing! See, I knew lions weren't all bad - Hasira and Nyeusi kept going on about how all lions are pushy, smelly and ugly fleabags, but I said, no, look at Scar, he's been good to us - it's probably all a misunderstanding, and if we just tried our best, we can get along just fine!"

"Right..." Tuli drawled, taking a while to process the sudden verbal flood emanating from the previously quite timid creature, "Look, eh, sorry again for sorta-kinda stealing some of your food. I should probably be going now, leave you to you..."

"No, wait, you can't go now! We haven't even been properly introduced! Let me get my friends, so we can all get to know one another. It'll be great, I don't think I know anyone else who has a lion-friend yet!"

And with that, the hyena darted off, not leaving Tuli any chance to get a word in.

"A lion-friend, huh?"

The hyena returned before long, trailed by her darker friend - the one that had commented on Tuli's many scars. She seemed a lot more hesitant to approach than the red-head, though. Of the angriest of the trio there was no sight.

"Come on, Nyeusi, I told you, it's fine! She's actually a really nice lioness, and she's giving us back the kudu. See, she stopped eating and everything - I told you she was all right!"

The hyena called Nyeusi still seemed hesitant, shooting anxious looks at Tuli. Her friend carried on undeterred, though.

"I'm sorry, miss lioness, but Hasira didn't want to come - I think she's still angry at you, or maybe at me for talking to you, or maybe just embarrassed, I don't know. But wait, we should introduce first. I'm Mizuri, and I'm second cousin to the matriarch. The one who isn't here is called Hasira, and she' ranked even higher, because her mom is aunt to the matriarch, and second in line. And this here is Nyeusi. Her mom only ranks first tier, though."

"Well I don't know what any of that means," Tuli admitted, "And I'm pretty sure I don't rank anywhere. But my name is Tuli, pleased to meet you, Mizuri and Nyeusi. Sorry we got off on the wrong paw earlier."

The hyenas gingerly approached Tuli, looking, sniffing. Mizuri even tried touching Tuli's tail, jumping back when it whipped her on the nose.

"Wow, I've never been this close to a lion before. You're even bigger than I expected!"

Tuli kept silent, intuiting that now might not be the best time to mention she had seen plenty hyena up close, and had seen more of them than she cared to remember. Her scars could speak for themselves.

"Mizuri, can we eat now? I'm starving..."

"Lets! Tuli, would you mind sticking around, I'd really love to talk some more after dinner. Wow, this is so cool, I can't believe I know an actual lioness!"

"Well we could always just talk..."

...while you eat. Turned out that wasn't in the cards. The hyenas tore into the kudu, and this was accompanied by much sound and fury, signifying something something yet beyond Tuli's comprehension. She had never before been witness to two hyenas feasting - not quite this close to it anyway - and the experience turned out to be quite instructive. Her only knowledge of communal dining was that of lions, eating as they do in a paradoxically anarchic orderliness; you would have the lion or king eating first, but beyond that there wasn't really an order to it, no rules, no rank - yet somehow everyone always ended up with their proper share, without much of any animosity.

As far as she could tell - and this based entirely on the one example she was right then experiencing - the hyenas more or less turned that system on its head. Mizuri had made some references to rank earlier, and those had been pretty meaningless to Tuli. But now, seeing them eat, she could glint some of what the hyena had meant: every time both of the hyenas made for one particular bit or piece of the carcass at the same time, Nyeusi would defer to Mizuri - but not without ample growling, whining and snapping. A loud but bloodless struggle where the winner was always predetermined - yet they still insisted on the struggle. If Tuli hadn't been told differently, she would find it hard to believe these creatures were actually friends, based on how they treated each other while eating.

Her carful observations were interrupted when a third contender entered the fray. The third hyena, the one that had given Tuli so much trouble before and was called Hasira, suddenly appeared in the clearing. It was easy to tell she just came out off the water, her fur and manes drooping down and sticking to her body. Without the mud, Tuli now saw how, like her companions, she had curiously dark fur, with only lines of sandy coloring between. All other hyenas Tuli had seen before had been lightly colored all over, mottled with darker spots.

Tuli's guess was that Hasira had gone back to the watering hole to wash off the mud - and she had apparently cooled off some too while she was at it. All she did was cast a suspicious glance at the lioness, but she mercifully held of on shouted reproaches or gleeful exclamations of "I told you so". She addressed her friends in stead.

"Oh, that's nice, don't leave anything for me - just eat it all, why don't you?"

With that, she pushed Mizuri and Nyeusi out of the way and started chomping, after which the scum continued much as it had before. The most amazing part was just how quickly they went through the kudu - they stripped the carcass of all meat in no time at all, even going so far as to eat all skin and tendons. Much to Tuli's surprise, that wasn't the end of it, as they then went on to gnaw at the bones - which wasn't that unusual; there's always some meat left you have to scrape off. But what they actually did was to start tearing strips and chunks out of the bones themselves, chewing them to a subdued crunching sound, and then simply swallowing.

They were actually eating the bones - not just gnawing at them, or cracking them open for the marrow, but eating them shock must have been palpable on Tuli's face, because after a while the hyenas stopped.

"What?"

"The bones - how do you even..."

The hyenas just stared back bemused, then looked at each other wonderingly.

"Most of it is chewing," Hasira grinned, earning her a few guffaws from the others.

"... forget I asked.", Tuli sighed. Maybe not all bad, but the hyenas were certainly very different from her, a lioness, and it wasn't just looks - that much she could tell from spending less than half an afternoon with them.

She chatted for a bit after they had finished eating - mostly with Mizuri, who turned out to be very pleasant company, if rather a bit too loud now that her awe for the lioness had worn off. Hasira kept up a fairly confrontational air throughout, and often spoke over the other hyenas, though weirdly enough she neither got angrier, nor changed her demeanor when Tuli simply ignored her tone. Maybe that was just her way of interacting. Nyeusi didn't say much unless prompted, and then very little - she seemed rather preoccupied with something else.

After talk of food, hunting, and boys - they found the idea that the pride had only the king, and Chumvi and Mheetu, who were only still cubs, utterly bewildering and actually refused to believe it - they came on the subject of Priderock. Turned out none of them had ever been.

"What?" Tuli exclaimed, "How can you come live in the Pridelands, and never have been to Priderock? Plus, I'm pretty sure I remember your whole pride - sorry,I mean you entire clan - came visiting the night Scar announced his brother's death, and how he was going to allow you guys in. No offense, but it was actually pretty scary when you all showed up all of a sudden."

"Oh yeah, we're the scary ones," Hasira snorted.

"No, we had to stay in the den - our moms wouldn't let us go, told us it was too _dangerous_ ," Mizuri said, stressing the last word to show she disagreed with that assessment.

"What do you mean, your mom wouldn't _let_ you?" Tuli asked, "Wait - you mean you three are only..."

"We're allowed out of the den on our own now, though!" Mizuri quickly interrupted.

"And I'm already allowed to go on hunts," Hasira added smugly.

The realization felt to Tuli like a kick in the gut. These were just a bunch of kids! Not quite cubs, but definitely not full-grown hyenas either. That's why their fur was all wrong - it was probably like the spots on a cub's back: those disappear when they grow up, and these hyenas' coats would probably just get progressively lighter until only spots remained of their dark fur.

To think that only moments before, she been ready to fight them, hurt them, and who knows what else, and all that over a bit of meat. Just kids, and seemingly good kids, too. It made her feel like she had something to make up for - besides stealing part of their kudu.

"All right, you know what, let's just go see Priderock, right now! I'll take you. It's something you really have to see for yourselves."

"You sure we won't get into trouble? The others tell us that most lions don't like at at all when hyenas come near, and they chase us off..."

"No worries! It's not too late in the afternoon yet, most lionesses will still be asleep anyway. Plus, you've got me to vouch for you."

That seemed to sway them. Without much further ado, the odd fellowship set off for Priderock, three young hyenas and a grizzled lioness. In the clearing, nothing remained of the kudu but a dark patch of bloodstained grass.

On the way to Priderock, the previous pattern held, with Mizuri again doing most of the talking, Hasira giving Tuli the evil eye, and Nyeusi remaining a bit aloof. At one point, though, either by coincidence of at Hasira's prompting, the two other hyenas started walking a bit ahead of her and Tuli.

"Tuli, I'm sorry about earlier - I was wrong about you, calling you a thief and all..." Hasira said in low tones, to Tuli's great astonishment. All hint of chagrin had gone from her voice.

"Eh... sure... I mean... I did inadvertently almost steal your food - so, sorry right back, I guess."

"Lets call it even, then," the hyena grinned, "Friends?"

The weirdest thing was, as soon as they rejoined the others, Hasira immediately fell back into her aggressive, domineering pattern. Tuli figured it was yet another hyena peculiarity she didn't quite understand yet. The rest of the way was uneventful, except for one encounter just outside Priderock. They were approached by an adult hyena only slightly bigger than Tuli's companions - which she figured made him smallish, in light of the others' age - and fairly unremarkable, except maybe for his dark manes and eyes, and a fair bit of scars.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I couldn't help but notice and I felt like I had to ask - were you actually talking to, and traveling with this lioness? That's amazing!"

Although the hyena had addressed Mizuri, it was Hasira who immediately stepped up to haughtily deal with the interlocutor, who in turn assumed a strangely submissive posture. Why would an adult behave that way to a kid? The longer she hung out with these hyenas, the less Tuli seemed to understand - but not in a bad way; it only made her want to find out more about them.

"Yeah, what about it? She's a friend of ours, it's not a big deal."

"Really? That's wonderful! I didn't know any of us had lion-friends."

"Told ya, not a big deal."

"You know," the dark hyena confided, "Every time I've tried to approach a lion, they've chased me off - it's really frustrating! The king told us we would be living together, after all, and I really would love that, but..."

"Well, it's not like we got off to a flying start either," Tuli joked. Seemed like Hasira didn't care much for that, because she frowned angrily. It was going to take a lot more time for to figure out exactly what her deal was, it seemed. Tuli opted to just ignore her for now. The dark hyena, on the other hand, seemed positively thrilled to have a lioness addressing him.

"Verily! Sadly, there is a lot of bad blood between our peoples - but I'm happy to see you are willing to give us a chance. I wish I could say the same about all other lions! There's this one lioness in particular; earlier, she chased me - and I don't think she intended it as a joke, I truly feared she wanted to kill me! Maybe you know her; she has about your built, but tawny, with frightfully maroon eyes, and a discoloration on the top of her head..."

"Frightfully maroon eyes?" Tuli laughed, "Yeah, I know her. Sounds like you met Zira! She can be a bit... challenging to the uninitiated. I doubt she really meant, it though - unless you did anything to get her angry."

"Zira's the name, huh?" A sly smile crept over the hyena's face, vanishing almost immediately, "Well, I never did anything to antagonize her - it must have been a misunderstanding. Hyenas and lions are very different, after all, and it's impossible to ever really know what, or even how the other thinks..."

"I don't think it's that bad. I know for a fact what my new friends here will think when they get to climb up on Priderock; they'll think it's super cool and impressive... I'm Tuli, by the way."

"Tuli, it's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Kuzinga - but you can call me Kuz. You know, I actually find lions quite fascinating - maybe you would do me the honor of meeting again when you're through with these lovely ladies, and tell me more about..."

"Please!" Hasira suddenly growled , and she pushed Kuzinga out of the way violently, "Tuli's got better things to do than hang out with a little nobody punk like you! Matter of fact, she's going to show us around Priderock - and you're not invited. Scram!"

Then Hasira snapped at the hapless male, who scurried off. The entire exchange bewildered Tuli - she wouldn't ever have dreamt of doing something like that to an elder when she was still a youngster! Then again, there was only so much she knew about her new companions. She decided not to go into it - showing them around Priderock was her priority now.

The hyenas trailed Tuli closely, seemingly afraid of what might happened if they strayed even an inch. A few lionesses were out, and most of them eyed the group suspiciously, though others seemed only curious. At least no one made any kind of trouble. Still, their stares made Tuli quite nervous - maybe it was best if she only made it a real quick tour, and came back later once she'd talked it over with the rest of the pride. She doubled down on that decision when, at the base of the promontory, they suddenly ran into none other than Zira.

"Zira! I haven't seen you since you woke me up yesterday afternoon! What have you been up to?"

"I'd ask you the same thing," Zira grumbled, glaring at Tuli's companions, causing them all to cower back, "What the hell are you dragging along?"

"They're, eh... friends. Come on, don't look at me like that - they're an all right bunch, once you get used to the, eh, hyenaishness. I don't see what the big deal is; the king told us we should all try to get along, after all."

"Whatever, I don't care." Zira shrugged. She struck Tuli as strangely absent-minded - doubly worrying seeing as how Zira was usually very alert, to a fault. "Listen, Tuli, when you're done showing your new pets around, can you come see me? We need to talk."

Well that sure was ominous, Tuli thought to herself as she gave the hyenas the tour. She decided to limit the visit to the promontory and the peak, though; letting them into the den unannounced was liable to cause an uproar. Still, those sights proved plenty impressive, and they especially enjoyed the gorgeous view of the Pridelands. If it were up to the hyenas, they would have probably stuck around until sunset - truly a sight to behold - but Tuli was anxious to get back to Zira, so she showed them out, and they said their goodbyes. Mizuri made Tuli promise she'd come see them again soon, to which she gladly agreed. After all, the hyenas would remain in the Pridelands for the foreseeable future, and she'd finally met a few more or less friendly ones - might as well make the best of it.

She was in a very good mood when she joined Zira in the usual spot: the rocky perch they used for napping. The tawny lioness was pacing back and forth restlessly, only stopping once she saw Tuli

"Well I'm glad at least one of us is enjoying this new arrangement," Zira sneered

"I am enjoying it, actually," Tuli smiled, "Had a good time - they're nice kids. We can't all be wantonly chasing random hyenas around for sport, like you."

"What, was that what one of your new friends told you? I did nothing of the sort - I doubt they can even tell us apart anyway."

"It's possible." Tuli recalled how the one hyena, Kuzinga, had perfectly described Zira - but she didn't feel like arguing. "So I have been out making new friends all day - what have you been up to?"

Zira looked around carefully, made sure no-one else was listening, then beckoned her friend to come closer. She told her about her sojourn to the Gorge, her rock-climbing exploits, and the startling discovery she'd made there - claw-marks, right above the spot where Mufasa died.

"Huh..."

"That's all you're gonna say: huh?"

"No, I mean, it's... huh... I suppose we can rule out some other lion going rock-climbing like you did?"

"In the exact same place?" Zira scoffed, "Fat chance! I'm telling you, those were Mufasa's - he tried to climb out, he must have."

"Yeah, probably," Tuli agreed calmly. Her lack of excitement, or unwillingness to speculate further seemed to anger Zira.

"Well?"

"Well what? If a herd of wildebeest came barreling down at me, I'd try climbing out too."

"But don't you see? That's not what Scar told us - he said he'd seen the whole thing happen, but he never mentioned Mufasa trying to climb out!"

"He probably forgot," Tuli reasoned, "I mean, it must have been pretty shocking, seeing his own brother and nephew die. You lose some of the details."

Zira shook her head slowly. "Not buying it - I bet he saw the whole thing."

"But why would he lie about that, and not tell us?"

"I don't know, you go ask him! Maybe he was too much of a coward to help his brother up, and now he's ashamed. Although... why would Mufasa even need help in the first place? I climbed out without too much trouble - and I didn't have the fear of death driving me on."

"You're making too much out of this..." Tuli yawned, "Besides, what does it matter? Mufasa's dead, Simba's dead, and Scar's the king now. And far as I can tell, the hyenas aren't all bad. Lets just roll with it."

Zira frowned angrily. Tuli knew her friend well enough to be able to tell she wasn't going to let the subject drop. "All right, so we won't just roll with it. So what do you want us to do now?"

The tawny lioness looked away, staring out over the ledge at the Pridelands. She sighed loudly.

"I don't know. It's why I wanted to talk. I don't know what to do now, and I didn't trust anyone else."

The other lioness pursed her lips pensively. "All right - so first, I've got to figure out what you want to do. Is there anything you want to achieve?"

"I don't know." Zira lay down resignedly, staring ahead into nothing. "I don't know what I want. I wanted to be part of this pride... feel at home, you know? But now, this whole thing with Scar, these hyenas, the claw-marks... It made the nightmares come back. It's like I can' rest easy 'till I'm sure nothing else is happening around me that I don't know about. I don't want any surprises."

"Pretty tall order, Zira... But if I can help, I will."

That seemed to cheer Zira up somehow what - a slight smile touched her lips.

"Say, here's an idea: the other day, I had a chat with Nala - she's Sarafina's's cub. Of course you know her, she's the Leader of the Hunt. You should really try to get out more. Anyway, Nala - she used to be Simba's betrothed, and as far as I could tell, it wasn't just a formality - she was pretty close to him, I think. The prince died in the Gorge, too - maybe, if you find out more about him... I mean, it's something. Plus, babysitting the cubs for an evening every now and then would be good for your standing with the other lionesses - I know you don't care, but they are our pride now... You asked for my advice, you got it."

"Gah, no thanks. I'm sorry I even asked" Zira grumbled. Yet, after much frowning and tail-wagging: "Ugh - okay, fine. But only because I can't come up with anything better. And I'll do the babysitting thing just once - that's trouble enough. You really think that Nala kid knows anything?"

"Honestly, no, but I couldn't think of anything else to do - I don't suppose you'd be comfortable asking some of the hyenas..."

Zira's nasty glare told her just what she thought of that idea.


	7. The trial

**preface: oh no, it's courtroom-episode...**

* * *

 **The trial**

"Ahem - Sire?"

The dark-maned lion stirred, without waking up. Zazu hopped about nervously, a worried look in his eyes. They were alone in a small cave at the back of Priderock. King of the Pridelands he might be, but Scar still preferred to sleep in solitude much as he had before. In fact, as he saw it, his isolation was even more apt now that he was the king; did the power and responsibilities of his office not put him apart from the other lions - above them, to be more precise? Yes, that it did, in his mind.

"Sire, please, I must insist!"

"Zazu," the lion suddenly grumbled, eyes still closed as if asleep, "You know these things better than I do - is it a capital offense to rouse the king from his sleep?"

He opened his eyes, casting a piercing stare at his majordomo, who immediately prostrated himself.

"Because if it is not, it should be."

"Your Highness, I beg your forgiveness; I was merely trying to fulfill the duties of my office!"

"Get a hold of yourself, 't was merely a jest," Scar yawned nonchalantly, "No doubt there is a very good reason for you coming here and disturbing your monarch. Go on then, what is it now?"

Zazu ventured a glance up at his king, and saw that he was now fully awake, and even relatively attentive. Cautiously, the hornbill righted himself.

"So you do not remem... Okay. Sire, some time ago you decreed that today, this very afternoon, you would sit in court so that all animals who so wished could bring their disputes before you for judgment..."

"Ah yes, how could I forget that most supreme of all the day-to-day drudgery that comes with kingship: court day." The king rolled his eyes, before stretching his body out and scraping his claws against the rock. Zazu winced. "All right then, it is a tedious job, but someone has to do it, I suppose. Tell me, Zazu, what is on the docket today?"

"Well, Sire, it's promising to be a truly busy day. For starters, the baboons have accused a leopard of..."

The majordomo started rattling off a list of animals who were all in disagreement over something or other. Scar listened with growing disinterest, the corners of his mouth dropping ever lower. It were always the same mundane issues to come before the court, routine and unremarkable, not the kinds of grand dilemmas that would be a more suitable use of his kingly time. Water rights, grazing, gratuitous predation, and sometimes, on a good day, a lovers' quarrel gone awry... He'd seen and heard it all so many times before.

Scar had attended many a court day when his father Ahadi was still the king, and even a few where Mufasa presided. He remembered how his father's judgments had, without fail, been predictable, strict, unbending, and unchanging. Because of that, justice was delivered quickly and curtly, and all cases dealt with in no time at all. Rigorous justice. Mufasa, on the other hand, liked to listen to whatever the animals had to tell him, take in all the details of their sob-stories, and then weigh the arguments endlessly while explaining the reasoning behind his decision, and why it differed slightly or even greatly from a different decision in a similar previous context. Court day would stretch into the evening, only to be suspended until the next day.

How he had hated court days with Mufasa.

"... That last case, by the way, is leftover from Muf... I mean, from the former king's last sitting - he had heard the parties' arguments, but had to suspend the session when daylight ran out."

"Lovely," Scar sneered, zoning back in as soon as he heard mention of his brother, "How like him to leave me with that doozie of a dispute. Between the elephants and the rhinoceroses, was it? Right. What else?"

"Well, there is one more issue to be dealt with, the first and most important one for this afternoon in fact, seeing as how it involves not merely a dispute, but a breach of sacred law. You highness will determine the fate of the hyenas responsible for breaching the King's Peace on the day of your coronation."

"Oh, I most certainly remember that."

Any other day, and Scar would have grinned gleefully at the prospect of punishing those that had done him wrong. The prospect of vengeance should have felt good. Only today, the elated feeling did not come. He felt nothing, couldn't help his mind from drifting in a very diffrent direction.

"Say, Zazu, doesn't that strike you as a little odd?"

"I'm sorry Sire, but I don't follow..."

"Don't you see an issue with this, that I, as the king, would judge in this particular case?"

"I don't see why not," Zazu replied defensively, confused at his monarch's suddenly pensive tone, "You are the king after all, it is your duty to sit in judgment..."

"Oh, I most certainly am the king," Scar agreed, "And as the king, I can be expected to stand above all others, above all their petty personal squabbles, and render a verdict in perfect equity that takes into account the good of all, and the principles of justice and fairness.

"But this mater of the hyenas breaching the King's Peace is different, is it not? In braking the sacred laws, they violated _my_ Peace, after all, and ruined _my_ coronation. Where otherwise I would weight the claims of the elephant against the defense of the rhino, in this instance I, the king himself, am the aggrieved party. Yet at the same time, I am also called to determine if I my law was in fact broken, who was responsible, and what the appropriate punishment should be.

"Zazu, I command you to be honest with me: does this strike you as a fair arrangement?"

"Your highness!" the majordomo squirmed uncomfortably. Mufasa would never have doubted his duties like this, or questioned the kingship - he had simply been the king, and that was the end of it! None of this skeptical musing. And no doubt there would now follow an inappropriately cynical conclusion, also very much unlike Mufasa.

"So you do not want to answer? Or maybe you just don't like the answer, and you would rather not think about these things. Don't worry, I forgive you. I'll answer for you: no, it isn't fair, not in the least. But then again, life isn't fair, is it?

"Life isn't fair, and I... I am the king." That last phrase Scar uttered almost as a sigh.

Before, way before, before he had actually started plotting to become the king, Scar - then still called Taka - had thought that in being the king, in the pure experience of being king, someone could move beyond such notions as fairness, grasp at something... higher. When he looked at the self-assuredness with which his father and brother carried themselves, that was the only logical conclusion.

Yet now that he was king, these thoughts of fairness and right nagged in the back of his mind just as they had before, only with even more urgency now that one of his supposed duties was to ensure fairness and justice for his subjects. He was the king, but nothing seemed to have changed; there had been no epiphany, no revelation. There was just him, Scar, now as the king.

Glumness writ on his face, he started to exit the cave, motioning his majordomo to follow along. The sun was still high up in the sky outside, casting everything in shadowless heat. Zazu reasoned they had better start early, keeping in mind Mufasa's time consuming habits in these matters. Scar had already determined, however, that in this too he would not follow his brother. He would clear every single case before evenfall, regardless the circumstances or complexity; time to return some majesty to his office, lest the animals came to see him as some hapless, mild-mannered arbiter simply there for their convenience.

As he rounded the corner towards the front of Priderock, Scar could see the crowd already assembled on the plaza at the base of the promontory. A myriad of different beasts: all the various plaintiffs, and the defendants - although, as so often happens, a good number of the complaints were brought against parties unknown, or against animals who did not bother to show up. The latter group would then appear at the next court day to object to the judgment rendered in their absence. And so a king keeps himself busy. Also present were a good number of curious onlookers, most of them lionesses - and, in a first, also a large number of hyenas. They seemed to be perfectly able to put their fear of the lionesses behind them long as they could boast superior numbers, and even dared snarl boldly at anyone that looked at them sideways.

"Another sweltering day, perfect for rendering fiery justice," Scar grumbled, squinting at the bright sunlight, "Lets move this show to the throneroom, it won't do to be out all afternoon in this heat."

"My apologies, Sire, but I don't think that will be possible today..."

"Who are you to tell the king what is and isn't possible?" Just as he finished speaking, however, Scar almost bumped into a great, gray leathery mass in front of him. He looked up. A rhinoceros looked down placidly. At some distance from them, even more massive, two elephants. Neither party would fit any cave in the Priderock complex.

"Right. An open-air court it is."

Finally recognizing the lion who was his king, the rhino moved out of the way, as did the other animals as Scar passed through the crowd. They spontaneously formed up into a half-circle in front of the king, who hopped on a large, flat boulder at the edge of the open space. It would serve as his seat of authority for the day. Zazu took up position halfway between his king and the crowd.

"Ahem - to all those gathered here today, on this first court-day in the reign of King Scar, I would ask that you bow for your monarch."

The animals complied. Last to bow were Sarabi and Sarafina, who attended as spectators. After a while, Zazu inconspicuously turned around and tried, as unobtrusively and respectfully as possible, to indicate to Scar that they would only get up as soon as he gave the signal. A moment of confusion ensued as the majordomo gestured wildly but to no effect, until the king finally relayed his understanding with a nod.

"Rise!" Scar carried on as soon as everyone had gotten back up. "Zazu, if you would kindly proclaim for everyone to hear the first case I will deal with today?"

"As you wish, your Highness. On the day of his majesty's coronation there was declared, in accordance with the sacred laws, the King's Peace. On that day, throughout the Pridelands, all forms of hunting were absolutely and unequivocally forbidden. Yet, in full view of the kingdom, at the height of the ceremony, there did occur a hunt - a hunt that, incidentally, caused a stampede among the onlookers, resulting in some loss of life. As his first act at this court day, the king will now judge those responsible... Sire?"

"Right," Scar nodded, "First things first. I'm going to ask all of you that aren't hyenas to take a few steps back. Careful now, don't step on anyone; we don't want this to turn into another bloodbath.

"There, that's better. I do hope no-one is feeling prejudged in any way, of course. Zazu, as the stampede occurred, I ordered you to investigate what had caused it. What did your investigation find?"

The majordomo formally related how he had taken various eyewitness testimonies, and concluded based on those testimonies that the stampede had been caused by a hunt. The instigators of the hunt were thought to be hyenas, though at that point still unidentified. These were all known facts to the king, but he went through the motions for the benefit of the onlookers - justice has to be seen to be done, after all. Scar than progressed to the next step of the investigation.

"Thank you, Zazu. Given that everything pointed towards the culprits being hyenas, I then assigned Shenzi, well placed as matriarch of the clan, the task of identifying those members of her clan responsible for breaching the sacred laws. Shenzi, step forward!"

Throughout the proceedings, Shenzi had kept a low profile; silent, and surrounded by her clanmates. As per usual, there were Ed and Banzai, but also others, most of them tall, thick and grizzled - the high-ranking females of the clan, all clustered near their matriarch. The rest of the hyenas present all sat more spread out along the semicircle, boxed in on both ends by the attending lionesses. Now, head held low and eyes on Scar, Shenzi cautiously slunk forward. Ed made an attempt to follow her, but Banzai just barely managed to grab hold of on of his backpaws, dragging him back into the crowd.

"Now then, tell us: what did you find out?"

"Scar... your Majesty." Shenzi quickly corrected herself, nervously licking her lips. It was an unbearable feeling, sitting there, surrounded by her clanmates, knowing that she would have to essentially betray some of them. But if that was the price she had to pay for getting to stay in the Pridelands, so be it. She looked up, almost defiantly.

"Your majesty, I did look into the whole hunting-on-your-coronation thing. Can't say anyone was especially thrilled about that, and no-one came forward to confess immediately. But you know how it is - a threat here, some cajoling there, and plenty of snitches. A few names came up - narrowed it down to three. And they confessed, eventually. That's what you wanted, right? A few of my people you can make an example of. Wouldn't be much of a king if you couldn't punish someone every once in a while, now woud ya?"

For a moment there, Scar seriously considered lashing out at Shenzi. He did not like her tone one bit. But then, what's the point? She was just putting on a bit of a show - all of it would still end with her, in her own words, handing her people over. That was the real measure of where power lay between them, not mere words - those were just an afterthought. And that power was, in turn, best expressed in a calm and measured response.

"Just the names will suffice, Shenzi," he demanded dryly. More than anything else, that seemed to get at her. The matriarch winced, painfully aware of her own powerlessness. The whole trial was just as much about her as it was about the supposed crime: all those present had to see her subordinated to Scar, especially the other had to see who was boss around here, and truly realize what it meant to have Scar as their king.

And they saw, they saw how their matriarch could only submit to the king's demands. Not a few of them were aghast, having been brought up to think of the matriarch as the be-all and end-all of hyena society - and now she just groveled before Scar. One of the hyenas in particular looked at the scene in disgust, a fierce female with a dark, squat muzzle and brown manes, blind in one eye.

This is supposed to be our matriarch? she thought. Pathetic! She's just that lion's plaything.

"All right, your highness," Shenzi eventually managed through gritted teeth, "Those responsible are Toka, Mbili, and Tatu."

There was some murmur among the hyenas; half of them were shocked at what they heard, and the other half hadn't quite heard and were now asking their neighbors what they missed. The volume quickly picked up.

"Silence!" Scar roared. And there was silence. "Now, Shenzi, you say these three hyenas have confessed? I of course presume you brought them here with you. Accused! Step forward!"

Shenzi's only acknowledgment was a grunt, and she nodded towards the crowd. Thee figures gingerly stepped forward, cowering at the look in Scar's cold, green eyes. Two males, one quite young, with a thick light fur and wavy straw colored manes, the other old and grizzled, recognizable by a terrible scar running all around his thick neck. The third one, taking the lead, was a female, dark furred with a pointed snout. All across her back were fresh scabs and bitemarks.

So this motley bunch was all it took to ruin my coronation, Scar thought, frowning. They don't look like much.

"So you three had the gall to break the sacred laws and defile my coronation with bloodshed. I look forward to condemning the lot of you - ah, but I forget myself; there are still a few formalities we'll have to work through. I am to serve the cause of justice after all... objective and disinterested justice, in keeping with the example set by the great kings of the past."

The accused milled around uncomfortably, staring at their paws. Everyone else looked on with bated breath, hyenas as well as the other animals. Everyone likes a good court-day scene. They needn't be so anxious; the outcome was never in doubt.

"Now then... On the day of my coronation, there was in force the King's Peace. Someone violated that sacred truce by hunting. Shenzi tells me you three have confessed to being the culprits - I will assume, for convenience's sake that you confessed willingly..."

The fresh wounds on the female's back gave Scar pause, though. Had Shenzi forced the confession on an innocent scapegoat? Or was she guilty, simply needing some convincing to get her to attend the court-day? It didn't really matter, though. What counted was that all the animals saw _someone_ being punished for the crime committed, saw the king's authority confirmed. If the actual guilty party was punished, that would of course be nice, but not necessary. It wasn't fair - but then, life isn't fair, and he was the king.

"... yet I would still like to hear it straight from the hyena's mouth, so to speak. So, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

Scar sat up, careening over the edge of the rock he was sitting on and looking down on the accused. None of which encouraged them to speak in any way. Yet, after a while, with the spectators all holding their breath and Scar's gaze boring into them, the trio mumbled among themselves for a little bit, and the male with the hideous scar took a step forward, eyes fixed on the ground beneath the king.

"Sorry, your, eh, Highness," he began in a low, rasping voice, "I'm not used to speaking to lion kings like this..."

Frightened, the hyena looked up, momentarily meeting Scar's cold, unmoved gaze. He quickly looked back down again."

"I... I mean, we, we did hunt, it's the truth, on the day of your coronation, we did." Murmur started to rise up among the crowd again, but was silenced with a single glance of the king's. The hyena continued: "We knew you had your thing going on, with the animals all on the move and all, but we thought that was all just lion's business and didn't involve us. We tried to stay far away from the whole thing. I don't know about no sacred laws..."

Scar sank down, putting his head between his outstretched forepaws. Not this again!

"... but you are the king, so you can decide these things, I guess. Anyway, we was hungry, and everyone was busy elsewhere, so we figured it as good a time as any to go hunting, the three of us. We never imagined it would get out of hand like it did - can't tell prey where to run, I think you can well 'preciate."

"No, I cannot _appreciate_ ," Scar interjected venomously, "Lionesses do most of my my hunting for me, you see. So you confess, then - all three of you did go hunting, and violated the Peace?"

None of the accused dared deny, or even look at the king. Scar sighed disappointedly - not even a hint of dissent!

"Well then, it is settled. What were your names again? Okay. Toka, Mbili, and Tatu, I herby find you guilty of violating the King's Peace. For breaking of one of our most sacred laws, I hereby..."

"Wait, Sire, please!" the dark-furred female suddenly interjected, "I - I can't say I didn't do the thing you said - but if you'll just allow me to say a few words before this is over..."

Scar glared at her through squinted eyes, irritated at being interrupted. On the other hand, he could appreciate the attempt to bring some life to this dull affair.

"Speak."

The hyena had been thinking of saying something throughout, but hadn't worked up the courage - only to realize that the opportunity had almost passed. And as soon as she asked to speak, she nearly forgot what she wanted to say again.

"T-thank you," she stuttered, "Ehm... I - I know I was in the wrong - Shenzi had told us we weren't allowed to mess up your, your thing, the coronation. I just figured it couldn't hurt to do some hunting if only we did it a bit out of the way - and I was wrong. I didn't mean for it to go all haywire like that, but it did. But... what I'm trying to say is... It was all my idea."

"Toka, don't..." the scarred male tried to interrupt his female accomplice, but snapped at him to be silent.

"I proposed to go hunting that day, I came up with the idea to do it - it should be on me. These two idiots... well, they'll do whatever I tell them. I do things, and they just follow along. I... I don't think they should be punished for something I put them up to..."

"You presume to tell me what I should or should not do?" Scar interrupted seemingly absent-mindedly. He was looking at the claws of his left paw, holding it up for inspection while he spoke.

"Forgive me, sire, I..."

"Ah yes, and now the groveling, afterwards. Maybe you should think before you speak - and think before you break our sacred laws. Is that something you hyenas are capable of? I would like to think so, but you all keep giving me reason to doubt... Now, those two idiots - by your own admission - that follow you around, and do your bidding, what's their deal? You tell me they only did what you put them up to - I ask you: why?"

"Mbili is my mate."

The female indicated the scarred one, oldest of the two males.

"And Tatu... I suppose he would like to be the same," she shrugged, nodding towards the younger, blonde hyena.

"My my, two mates!" Scar let out a sarcastic whistle, "And... what is it again, Mbili? You are okay wait that arrangement?"

"That's not up to me," the older male replied deadpan, "If that's what the lady wants, that's what the lady does."

Rumor erupted among the onlookers once more, except for the other hyenas, who remained entirely unmoved. Murmurs of disapproval, disdainful guffaws, the occasional "Well I'd never!". Some lionesses made disgusted or unbelieving faces, although there were also a few amused smiles among those who had not before considered such an arrangement, but wouldn't mind to try it out either. Imagine that, two lions all there for them, in stead of an entire pride of lionesses to one lion!

Scar did not share in the other animals' surprise; he was familiar enough with the hyenas' ways, having known Shenzi, Banzai and Ed since childhood. But he has teased out this confession all the same, if only to remind the hyenas of their precarious position: you are all strangers in this land, with strange ways, and nobody likes you. If you want anything, anything at all, even just being allowed to remain here, it will have to come though me, king Scar. I own you.

Scar motioned the crowd to silence.

"So - two dimwited, girl-crazy fools led astray by their impetuous lover. Not a bad way to spin it, I admit. So you ask that I be merciful to your boyfriends? Very well; let it not be said that I am a heartless king. Mbili, Tatu, for your _complicity_ in violating the Peace and breaking the sacred laws, from now on until the third new moon, you shall bring to this very spot every six days one fresh kill the size of a small zebra, or equivalent."

The two males blinked in surprise for a moment, unsure of what to say or do. Then Toka hissed: "Thank him, you idiots!", and they promptly dropped down on their stomachs, profusely thanking the king for the mercy shown to them.

"As for you, Toka..." Scar hesitated. In a way, he admired the creature's courage, taking all the blame on herself like she had done. At the same time, he thought her even more the fool for doing so: display virtue, only to suffer because of it, and see others walk away. Foolish - and also quite unfair. He raised his voice to a shout. "For committing the crime mentioned, and inciting others to do so, I sentence you to a life of exile, and declare you an outlaw..."

"Mom!"

A cry went up among the hyenas, and one of them darted forward towards Toka. She was rather smallish, and from her dark coloration Scar knew her to be somehowwhat younger - Toka's daughter most like. The youngster, now in tears, almost ran into Toka, before burying her snout in her mother's furry chest. Toka hugged her daughter, but remained silent, only looking down ruefully.

Scar rolled his eyes and carried on: "... As such, your life is forfeit, and it is incumbent on any animal that encounters you in these lands to see you driven off, or kill you in the attempt. Sarabi?"

The former queen had followed the proceedings with quiet, dignified attention. Not that she approved of Scar's doings; quite to the contrary. She doubted Mufasa would have simply accepted Shenzi's appraisal of the facts, ignored the obvious and fresh wounds on the female, or would have inquired as to the details of her relationship with the others purely with the aim of humiliating her. And he most certainly would not have announced that he looked forward to punishing them, nor would he have condemned even one of them to exile and outlawry for what was - and Sarabi was pained to to admit this about a hyena - a crime borne not of malice but ignorance.

But she was the former queen, and it was not her place to criticize the king, not in this. She stepped forward.

"Yes, Scar?" She did not bother with honorifics. Scar noticed and growled softly, but they both knew he would look foolish correcting the well respected queen-dowager in public.

"Have the lionesses see to it that this outlaw is driven from my kingdom."

"Very well." Sarabi looked around. Closest at paw was Sarafina, and she looked positively eager for the task. Nala's mother had never had much love for hyenas, and after they had tried to kill her daughter in the Elephant Graveyard, that loathing turned to unrelenting hatred. She would not hesitate to kill the outlaw if she as much as slowed her pace on the way out of the Pridelands.

Sarabi turned her attention back to the newly minted outlaw. Toka saw the former queen looking at her, and prepared to run for it. But there was no need - not quite yet.

"You have time to say your goodbyes, outlaw," Sarabi reassured her - not because she pitied the mangy poacher, but because it was proper.

Toka nodded gratefully. She looked down at her daughter, who still pushed up against her, sobbing and unable to get a word out. She kissed her daughter on the neck, but then pushed her away forcefully, and made her look her mother in the eyes.

"Nyeusi, daughter... Be strong." She then mentioned at her two partners sitting nearby. "And keep an eye on these two knuckleheads for me."

Nyeusi just nodded, snorting. Neither mother nor daughter were of many words.

"And you guys, keep out of trouble," was her only advice for her mates. The rest of the clan had to settle for a curt nod. Without further ado, Toka then broke into a run, through the assembled crowd that parted as she ran past, away from Priderock. Sarafina soon followed.

"Truly heartbreaking," Scar commented flatly as soon as she disappeared from sight, "It's all left me feeling a bit empty. I'm going to take a quick break. Zazu, be a dear and hear what the parties in the next few cases have to say. You can give me the summary when I get back, and I'll judge on that."

Zazu as well as some of the assembled animals made to protest - they had come here for the king, not his majordomo! Scar ignored them all, and lazily made his way towards his cave at the back of Priderock. With a contented sigh, he plopped down in the cool dampness of the cave. Court day, what a bother! The king closed his eyes, intent on taking a short nap - or a long one, because right now, he truly did not care what happened to the animals still awaiting judgment - when he heard a sound behind him. Someone had followed him into the cave.

"Away with you," he growled without looking, "Whatever it is, you can take it up with Zazu."

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be now, huh?"

Scar didn't even have to look to recognize the owner of that impudent contralto.

"If you're here to try and change my mind, or just complain about me banishing your clanmate, you're wasting your time, Shenzi."

He slowly turned around. The hyena matriarch was sitting in front of him, scowling, with no intention of going anywhere.

"You might as well have killed her, you know," she said, uncharacteristically quiet, "A hyena is nothing without her clan."

"It's been done. If you don't have anything else to say, leave!"

"All right, all right, no need to get all worked up, Scar. Or is it your Highness? Seems pointless when no-one else is listening." Shenzi grinned. Scar did not reciprocate. "You know, I'm getting the feeling like you don't got a lot of time for your old friends now that you're the king, Scar. We help you get what you want, and next thing you know, it's like you never knew us."

Any other time, and Scar would have racked her across the face for speaking of that-which should-never-be-spoken-of. But now, he felt strangely apathetic, and he couldn't be bothered to even mention his concern, contented to observe that no-one else was listening. He'd had that feeling disturbingly often since becoming king, that emptiness.

"I don't think the lionesses would appreciate it if I spent more time with you than I do with them. We might have been friends a long time, but they don't know that, and it's better for the both of us if it stayed that way. Besides, you talk as if you decided to help me out of the goodness of your heart. You and your clan live in the Pridelands now, show some gratitude."

Shenzi opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, looking away abashed. "Sorry. When you're right, you're right. I am grateful for what you did, Scar. We all are... even if we don't always show it."

"Yeah. You got what you wanted. Is it everything you always dreamed it would be?"

"What?"

Scar rolled over on his back, staring at the cave-ceiling with unfocused eyes. "You got what you wanted, and now what do you feel? I wanted to be king. It was all I ever wanted. It was what I willed, it had to be thus, and I had to do everything I could to make it so. And I did. Now I am the king. I wake up, and I'm still the king. It's what I wanted, it's what I willed - and I got it. That's good, isn't it?"

Shenzi rolled her eyes. Scar was having one of his melancholy moods again. He could never shut up about how was always the smartest lion around, but what good did that do him when his mind turned inward and started eating itself like this? She thought about leaving, but then considered her own words. Weren't they still friends? And don't friends talk to each other, even if the other one is feeling contagiously blue?

"Depends on what you do with it, dontcha think? Being king ain't all that much, it's what the king can do that counts - he gets to do a lot more than everyone else..."

"Oh yes, and what grand things the king can do indeed. I've been at my kingly duties all day, in fact - and a lot of good I've done, no doubt."

"Maybe not the best example," Shenzi agreed, getting a bad taste in her mouth thinking of Toka's fate, "I meant more like when you allowed us into the Pridelands. That was a good thing you did, can't argue 'bout that."

"Was it? Oh, it's sure been good for you. A lot of hassle for me, though - and I can't imagine, say, the zebra being too thrilled either. In the grand scheme, is it still a good thing, then?"

Shenzi sighed. He was having it a lot worse than usual.

"You know Scar, I don't think I've ever told you this, but it might be something to think about. I haven't been a matriarch all that long, but I did spend a lot of time looking and listening back when 't was still my mom. And one thing that happens when you're the matriarch, is that whenever someone has a live cub, they come present it to you. So I'd be there with my mom, and new mothers would come showing off their cubs.

"And cubs that age, they're tiny, dark fur all over, and they have these teeny tiny bitey teeth - they're really cute. And I would want to go up to them to nuzzle them and tickle them, and I'd ask what their name was, and all that. But my mom would always stop me - you know why? Well, she'd say to me: you don't want to grow too attached, Shenzi. Half of them will starve before the year is out anyway. Because of those stinking lions.

"But now, only a few days ago, there's a new cub that's born. And now I'm the matriarch, so the mom comes to me, bringing a healthy little boy. And you know what I did? I nuzzled the little fellow, I ticked him, and I licked his little snout. Wanna know why, why I can do that now? It's because we live in the Pridelands, and there is no cubs starving anymore. And that's all thank to you, Scar, that's thanks to what you did. Because of you, my clan's cubs aren't starving anymore.

"If that doesn't count as good, I don't know what to tell you."

But Shenzi left Scar unmoved, with the lion king still somberly staring at the cave-ceiling.


	8. Lovers

**re guest review: thank you, guest, for your kind review. I'm always afraid I'll end up with too many different characters doing too many different things, and that people will lose interest. It's nice to know you appreciate what I'm trying to do with the hyenas, and the rest of the cast.**

 **And of course thanks to everyone else who keeps reading, especially regulars ograndebatata and Kovukono.**

* * *

 **Lovers**

Sarafina was taken aback by the hyena's sudden departure. Sarabi had been incredibly generous to allow the creature a chance to say goodbye to her friends and family - and how did she choose to use that precious gift? Only one line for her lovers, and a paltry two sentences for her daughter! Not that Sarafina was prone to verbosity herself, yet she couldn't imagine ever leaving Nala in such a brusque manner.

Then again, Sarafina reasoned, I am a lioness. And if the trial she'd just witnessed had done anything for her, it was to remind her of just how alien the hyenas were. Two lovers, for heaven's sake! And not one of those scavengers even batted an eye - not even the daughter! Did she even know who her father was, did she care? Of course not - they don't care, because they don't love like lions do. All they care about is stuffing their faces, and killing. Figures they'd break the King's Peace to do just that.

But we get the last laugh, Sarafina thought, smiling, 'cause you just got banished. Now all that remained was to chase the poacher out of the Pridelands. She'd given her a small head-start, then set out in pursuit. The lioness made her way through the animals that had gathered for court day, and skid down a broad rocky ramp off Priderock and onto the hill below. She could see the hyena making her way down the slopes and through the high grass, running in the general direction of the Riverlands.

The Pridelands were hemmed in on one side by a great, broad river. It was a quiet, picturesque blue stream in the dry season, bounded on both sides by lush greenery even in the worst of times. But come the rainy season, it turned into a ferocious, mud-colored torrent, swollen by runoff carrying sand and debris. As it neared the Marshlands, however, near the watering hole, the great river flattened out into a great delta of smaller distributaries spread out over a very large area. Some of those fed into the Marshlands, while others carried on towards faraway and unknown places.

Unlike the Marshlands, the Riverlands held no pride that Sarafina knew of - the small, narrow islands between the streamlets would not support a pride, and they were often inundated during the rainy season. It actually made for a fairly good place for a lone hyena to seek sanctuary - was she purposefully making her way there, or was it just a coincidence? It didn't matter - all Sarafina had to concern herself with was making sure that the hyena actually left the Pridelands.

The lioness had expected some threats would be required to get the hyena to keep up the pace, but she maintained up a surprisingly brisk tempo all on her own. Not quite a full run, and not at all near the speed at which Sarafina could sprint, but pretty fast all the same. Every now and then the creature would turn her head and see if she was still being chased, and Sarafina expected her to slow it down every time, but she always just continued on just as fast as she had before.

It started to wear on the lioness. How long is she gonna keep this up, she wondered, feeling her legs starting to strain, breathing felt stabs of pain in her sides. Eventually, it wasn't the hyena that slowed down, but Sarafina - and in a gesture of defiance, her quarry actually matched her lower speed, looking back with a grin. Infuriated, the lioness sped up again, only to see the hyena outrun her with seemingly no effort. By now, Sarafina almost entirely exhausted. And so it went for what seemed like an eternity: Sarafina panting, the hyena taunting, all the way up to the border.

When they reached the edge of the Pridelands, Sarafina slowed to a trot, her legs cramping, gasping for air. She tried to shout something at the hyena, but what came out sounded more like dry heaving.

* * *

Leaving the lioness in the dust, Toka scrambled up the last hill before the flats of the Riverlands. She looked back, and was pleased to see the lioness on the edge of collapse. They hyena smirked. Her sprint might not be all that, and she had a rather funny gait, but few animals could match hyenas when it came to long-distance running, as the lioness chasing her had just found out. Then Toka's gaze drifted upwards. Priderock loomed in the distance, and somewhere out there beyond what she could see would be the Elephant Graveyard. That was the last she'd ever see of the only homes she ever knew - and she couldn't even see one of them!

At least my daughter will have a future there, and that's all that matters, she thought. Biting back the tears, Toka turned around and slowly made her way to the river delta, and whatever might lay beyond.

* * *

Still heaving, Sarafina tried to get back up, only to find that her legs felt even worse than they had before, when she was still running. Every muscle tried stiffly to resist her commands, hurting all the way. The only consolation was that by now she had regained enough of her breath to let out a loud curse. She dragged herself to the shade of a copse of lush, broad-leafed trees and bushes. The vegetation was markedly different so close to the river: almost everything seemed to be one shade of green or another, down to the tree-stems that were largely covered in thick, mushy moss. The monotony was only broken by a smattering of uncommonly large and richly hued flowers sprouting from the most unlikely places. The air hung heavy and dank, thick with the smell of decay.

Sarafina lay down all sprawled out, hugging the dark, moist underground in the hopes of finding some cool. The damp heat was oppressive enough on its own, and her body still burned from the exertion. As her breathing returned to normal, she could sense the pain in her legs and abdomen slowly being replaced by a spreading numbness. Beats hurting. Unexpectedly, she felt a gentle breeze caressing her face, chasing some of the humidity. The sudden refreshment was utterly heavenly. With a contented smile on her face, Sarafina slowly drifted to sleep.

When she woke up some time later, she didn't remember what she'd been dreaming of, if anything. The sun was low in the sky already, bathing everything in warm shades of orange. Just when she was about ready to get back up and head home, Sarafina noticed something was different. It took some time to register, but when she finally realized what it was, she almost jumped up from the shock: some paces away stood a tree with thick, low hanging branches, and on one of those branches, there was a lion.

He was just lying there, stretched out along the trunk, one paw dangling down casually for balance. Tall, but not overly so, lean and wiry, without even a hint of fat anywhere on his body. Scars all over his pale, sandy pelt gave the impression of someone that had lived hard life, yet his narrow face looked strangely ageless, framed by a messy, sun-bleached brown mane. But the only thing Sarafina saw at that moment were his eyes, a deep blue, fixed squarely on her.

She'd recognize those eyes anywhere.

"How long have you been staring at me like that?" she asked.

A broad smile came over the lion's face.

"For a while. You looked so peaceful, I could not bring myself to wake you." The sultry foreign accent gave his baritone voice an almost singing quality. With a sudden burst of laughter, the lion bounded from the branch he was sitting on, springboarding against the trunk of the tree and stopping right in front of Sarafina after a few erratic leaps.

"Always trying to impress, aren't you?"

"I only ever try to impress you, Sarafina - my love!"

The lioness looked away embarrassed. "Oh spare me. You just disappear for over a year, and now I'm supposed to believe..."

"Shhh," the lion interrupted, laying one paw softly on Sarafina's cheek and turning her head towards his. Looking at him, she could feel a warm, tingling feeling spreading out from her chest. "You know I would have loved nothing more than be with you! But you were of Mufasa's pride, and he would have surely killed us both if he ever found out! I did not wish for harm to come to you - I love you too much for that."

"Ayari..."

Sarafina had met the rogue called Ayari more than a year ago. It had happened by accident, while she was separated from the rest of the pride for reasons she'd long since forgotten. And suddenly, there had been Ayari. Bounding from rock to tree and back again, singing sweet words of her beauty, talking and laughing without any inhibitions... The lion made for a dashing figure, and Sarafina had been smitten, young and inexperienced as she was. She'd let him take her then and there.

Of course, as soon as it was over, she'd run back to Priderock in a panic - what if she was pregnant? That much, she knew of love. What would the king do to her if she gave birth without ever being with him first, what would he do to her cub? Mufasa could never find out - he had to believe it was of his own doing.

By the time she'd made certain of that, Ayari had already disappeared. Now here he was again, and Sarafina felt the exact same way she did the first time - only now, her feelings were tempered by experience. Or so she thought.

"Is that why you ran away, to protect me? I don't believe you. When you say that you love me, I know that's probably what you tell all of your girls, before you leave them too."

She had wanted to sound angry, but now, with the lion sitting right in front of her, touching her, it all came out sounding merely heartbroken.

"Sarafina, you hurt me, deeply! You know I have only ever loved you - this past year I have been alone, it has been torture!"

She knew he was lying, of course. It could not be otherwise: Ayari was, had always been, and would always be, a rogue. Not bound to any pride, wandering from place to place, he would take any lioness that struck his fancy, no matter the consequences for him, or for her. And he would kill with as little compunction, whenever he felt like doing so, or if there was anything in it for him, however small. Laughing all the way.

All these things Sarafina knew for fact. But what she knew to be true conflicted with what she felt, and what she wanted. What she felt was that she loved him, and what she wanted was for him to love her back. She had loved him from the first time she had laid eyes on him all that ime ago.

"It has been over a year... why have you come back now, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you," he replied slyly, "Here you are, a most beautiful lioness, all alone at the border... and that right when I happen to pass by. It must be destiny for us to be together!"

"Not destiny, just duty. I was chasing a hyena..."

"Truly? I have seen one in the Riverlands, coming from here - I thought it strange, as I know there are not supposed to be hyenas in the Pridelands." Ayari brought one of his paws up between him and Sarafina, baring his claws. "My love, if you would allow me, I will slay this beast in your honor!"

Now there's a thought, Sarafina considered. She still remembered how the cur had taunted her during the chase, pushed her to exhaustion. What's more, it was not a crime to kill an outlaw. But she reconsidered, if only because she didn't want to be separated from Ayari again so soon.

"Don't bother - and besides, don't try to change the subject! I asked you what you were doing here!"

In response, Ayari only smiled inscrutably, and then sniffed the air, inhaling deeply through his nose, exhaling theatrically.

"Ah! This is the border of the Pridelands - can you smell it, Sarafina? Fading, but it is still there - it's the markings of Mufasa. What a lion, I can still feel the overwhelming virility! If I could be any other lion, I would have been Mufasa. But word has been filtering out that Mufasa, the King of the Pridelands, has died! When I heard the news, the first thing on my mind was to come back for you. Tell me, Sarafina, is it true, is he gone?"

Sarafina's heart skipped a beat when she heard he'd come back for her. Then her mind caught up.

"Yes, Mufasa is dead..."

Ayari's laughter at the news seemed widely inappropriate to Sarafina - yet the sound of it was like music to her ears.

"... but I don't think you came back just for 're probably hoping to take Mufasa's place in stead, get yourself a nice little pride to settle down in, right?"

"It isa possibility, if that is what it takes to be with you," he admitted, "Or you can come with me, we run away and start our own pride! Mufasa won't be there to steal you back anymore. We could live here, or somewhere else, as long as I have you!"

It would be a lie to say that Sarafina wasn't sorely tempted. But her love for Ayari had to contend with one equally strong: "No, Ayari, I can't! I have a daughter here, and I will not leave her, not for you, not for anyone..."

"Ah." It was hard to tell if the lion was even disappointed - Sarafina wanted to believe he was.

"And what's more, she's your daughter, too!"

Ayari's eyes went wide with surprise, and for the first time since Sarafina had known him, he seemed to be at a loss for words: "But how... what about... didn't Mufasa...?"

"He thought she was his - but I know she isn't; she has your eyes. Her name is Nala."

Slowly, Ayari's shocked expression turned to a genuine smile.

"Sarafina, my love, what wonderful news!" Then he burst out laughing again, louder than ever, more profound, like everything before it had been nothing but an act. "And Mufasa thought she was his? Haha, I can not believe it! The grand, strong Mufasa, a lion's lion, great King of the Pridelands - and a cuckold! Haha!"

It took a while before Ayari settled back down again.

"Truly great news, my love! That settles it - I shall take your pride as mine, make you my queen, and we will raise our daughter together, along with the many other cubs I will sire with you."

"It is not that simple." Sarafina shook her head. "There is a new king - the throne has passed to Mufasa's brother, Scar."

Ayari squinted his eyes confusedly, then began sniffing the air again.

"But my love, I do not smell any markings - what kind of king does not mark his borders?"

A poor one. A lazy one. Before Sarafina could respond, however, Ayari spoke again: "Bah, it does not matter. What matters is this: is he as formidable as Mufasa? I might have been able to father one of his supposed children, but I could never challenge Mufasa in open combat. But maybe this Scar..."

"You probably could take him on, but that won't do you much good," Sarafina shrugged, "Here's the thing about Scar: he has an army of hyenas that are sworn to him; he is their meal-ticket, and I don't think they will stand idly by while you try to kill him..."

"Hyenas following a lion that does not mark his domain? You tell me all kinds of strange tales, my love. But, it does not matter - hyenas do not frighten me, I could kill a score with only one paw!"

"A whole clan? While you're fighting a lion at the same time?"

That seemed to give the lion pause: "Perhaps I have spoken too soon. So you do not think I can take your pride as my own?"

"Not as things stand now, not by yourself."

"That is unfortunate. But then at least, I could have you, no? We have made a fool of Mufasa - let us now make a fool of this Scar, too!"

Without warning, Ayari tried to jump Sarafina, but she quickly rolled out of the way, leaving the lion to slam into the ground.

"I do not remember you playing hard to get last time," he said annoyedly, getting back up again.

"I'm not playing at anything, Ayari! We can't do this! I can't risk getting pregnant again, not now."

"Why not? Just pretend it is Scar's..."

"How could I?" Sarafina shouted angrily, "He hasn't been with me, or any other lioness. Tell me, Ayari, how I am I supposed to pretend our cub is his then?"

"He hasn't... not even once? Ha! Maybe he is one of _those_ lions!" Ayari snorted, "It does happen, I know this; I have seen it among the rogues. Haha! Maybe I had it all wrong. I should not fight this Scar - no, what I have to do, is to make _him_ my queen!"

It was the loudest bout of guffaws the lion had yet produced - he seemed quite convinced of his own hilarity. Sarafina only winced. This was a mistake. She had a daughter to take care of, and a pride that was going through a difficult time. She couldn't afford to act out some naive young lioness' romantic fantasies anymore. Ayari was something from her past, something she had to put behind her.

Oh, why had he shown up right now? Why did she still love him? Why did the thought of leaving him hurt her so?

"This is foolish! I'm going back to my daughter, and you... I think you should leave. I still love you, Ayari, but we can't... we can't be together, not now - probably never. I have a pride, and a daughter that needs me, and if I'm with you, I'd be putting that all at risk. It... it would have been better if we just hand't met in the first place."

Before the lion could say anything, she turned and ran. To his credit, Ayari did not try to follow her, or stop her. He only shouted, seemingly heartfelt: "Sarafina! Please, you do not mean this! I still love you, and you, me. We can be together, you and I! I will stay here, and I will wait for you - you will come back to me, I know you will!"

She wished that she had not heard him, that she had not known that from then on he would be there, waiting. But she knew, and all it did was hurt.

* * *

With every step she took towards Priderock, Sarafina's urge to turn around and run back to Ayari became stronger. But she would not, she would not do it! Daughter, duty, pride - those were all that mattered. Love is only a silly thing, something for cubs and youngsters who are not yet wise to the ways of the world, and she was a full grown lioness, a mother even.

Then why couldn't she stop thinking of him? Stupid! He was only a rogue, crude and dangerous, living forever in the moment, so mysterious and dashing, his own lion not bound to any rules - no! Stop it, Sarafina! Don't think about him, at all!

By the time she got back to Priderock, night had fallen. Everywhere she looked, eyes stared back at her, glimmering silvery in the moonlight. A lot more hyenas than usual tonight - they had probably lingered after the trial. Suddenly, a small gaggle of them approached her, and one of them asked in a sinister tone "Look here: what's a little lioness like you doing out all alone so late at night?"

The others cackled with laughter.

Why would they do that? Were they getting back at her for chasing the outlaw? Was it some kind of joke, a thing they thought was funny, a fun little thing to do on a dare? Sarafina didn't care. All she knew was that there was only one of her, and a bunch of them, and that she felt threatened. Priderock was her home - these thugs were threatening her right outside her own home! She let out a roar, clawed at the offending hyena's face before it could react, and then broke into a run for Priderock proper. Her legs still ached from earlier.

The hyena she'd hit cursed, whined and shouted, but didn't dare chase the lioness - seeing stars and feeling the blood drip from the painfully burning wound had given the creature a taste of what lions could do, and how little it took to provoke them. The experience left the hyena scarred, but also a bit wiser. She had been furious that a member of her clan had been banished by the lion king, and as a result had been talking trash all afternoon about how they shouldn't let the lions kick them around - but now that push came to shove... The rest of them only laughed, hooting at the sight of their hapless colleague being humiliated.

Though Sarafina had come out on top with little effort and without ever being in any real danger, the experience still left her shaken. She'd already been in turmoil over meeting Ayari, only to then suddenly be accosted right outside her home! Then again, it only went to show just why she couldn't afford to be fooling around now; it would be trouble enough trying to raise her daughter in this environment. That realization did little to calm her down, though. What she needed was someone to talk to - someone she could _really_ talk to, tell her everything. A lioness she'd entrust with her every secret, her life, and that of her daughter's.

She went to find Sarabi.

* * *

The queen-dowager had sought solitude on the peak of Priderock. The previous afternoon's events had worn her patience thin, and she needed to regain some of her strength. Not that she was tired _per se_ ; she didn't feel like she needed any sleep. But dealing with all the animals' concerns, biting her tongue at the sight and sound of the hyenas, keeping face in front of the other lionesses... it all wore on her in a different way.

It's at times like this when she really missed Mufasa. They would just lie next to one another on the very spot she was lying now, and they would talk. It could be about nonsense, little nothings. Or it could be the things that really bothered them, unfiltered, tell each other what they were really thinking and feeling. Being the king and the queen, they couldn't do that with anyone else, it would ruin the mystique. A queen isn't supposed to be annoyed at the shrill sound one of her lionesses makes when she laughs, she isn't supposed to think of another's cub as a spoiled little brat, she isn't supposed to complain about having to get up early, she isn't supposed to wonder what the point of it all is. Except when she's alone with the king; that's when she can let it all out. But now that the queen was without her king... who could she talk to now?

Sarabi looked up at the stars: countless kings of the past, shining faintly. Mufasa was up there, somewhere. She had tried talking to him, poured her heart out at the stars. They never answered, but it still helped, some.

"Sarabi?"

She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't heard the other lioness come up to her. She looked around and saw Sarafina. Although the former queen had come to seek solitude, she didn't mind having someone join her - not now that she knew it was Sarafina. She motioned the lioness to come sit next to her.

"Nobody knew where to find you, so I figured you might be here," Sarafina said once she'd settled down.

"The other lionesses couldn't guess where I was?"

"The other lionesses aren't your bestie. I am."

It was true. Sarabi had always gotten along better with Sarafina than with anyone else. Part of it was chance: the two lionesses had been born only days apart, and they'd been the only ones in their little age-group. All other cubs had been considerably older than them, and the next generation so much younger. They were more or less condemned to spend time with one another, if they didn't want to forever be the but of jokes around the older lions. But there was more to it than that: in a way, the two lionesses complmented one another. The adventurous and passionate Sarafina was a good match for quiet, and thoughtful Sarabi, and they influenced each other to grow up more complete lionesses.

It cheered Sarabi up just thinking about their friendship.

"It's good to have you here, Sarafina. It's been a trying day since you left this afternoon - speaking of which, I hope it wasn't too much trouble when I asked you to take care of that outlaw."

"Yeah... about that..." Sarafina sighed deeply, causing Sarabi to give her a worried look.

"What happened? The hyena didn't try to fight you, did she?"

"I wish it'd been just that! No, I chased her off easily... I did have a hard time keeping up near the end - but that's not the point! It's what happened afterwards... Sarabi, when I got to the border, I met... someone."

"What do you mean?"

"There was a lion there..." Sarafina whispered, looking down ashamedly.

"A rogue?" There was a hint of panic in Sarabi's voice.

"No! I mean, yes, I guess he is... Sarabi, it was _him_! I met Nala's father!"

It took her a moment, but then the former queen's eyes suddenly went wide with recognition. She remembered it as if it happened yesterday: about a year ago, Sarafina had disappeared for an afternoon, only to suddenly show up again all teary eyed, looking ragged and distraught. She had taken the queen apart, and made a startling confession: Sarafina had been with a rogue.

At first, the queen had reacted furiously, berating her friend for betraying Mufasa's trust - Sarafina could only sit there miserably, and cry. Eventually, though, Sarabi's anger dissipated. Yes, Sarafina had made a shameful and dangerous mistake, but she was still her best friend, and had immediately confessed what she had done. Sarabi resolved to help her friend out of a jam: she informed Mufasa that a rogue had been spotted, without elaborating further, and then told Sarafina to invite the king to sleep with her as quickly as possible, regardless of her feelings in the matter. If anything ever came of it, well, it would just have to be a well guarded secret among friends.

"Sarafina, you can't be serious!" the former queen exclaimed angrily, "After all the trouble we went though to... You didn't let him take you again, did you?"

"No, no I didn't! We talked, and I'm sure he would have, if given the chance... but I just ran, and he didn't try to follow."

"Okay, that's good... I hope you realize you can't see him again, right?"

"I know..." Sarafina whispered ruefully, "Do you... do you think we should tell Scar? That there's a rogue, I mean?"

"If it was Mufasa, I would have already," Sarabi said, frowning, "But Scar... I'm not so sure. You said he didn't try to follow? Did he give any indication that he would try and take over our pride?"

"No, I think I talked him out of that - he didn't dare face both Scar and the hyenas..."

"Huh. First time those poachers ever made themselves useful. Well, if nothing else comes from this, maybe best if we just keep quiet. Tell you the truth... I don't trust Scar. There's no telling how he will react. There's just no talking to him - always so suspicious and unpredictable..."

"And here was I thinking I was the only one who got that vibe from him," Sarafina smiled weakly, "So we won't tell him anything, then?"

Sarabi shook her head - no, they wouldn't tell him. And although she was loathe to admit it, that was a great relief for Sarafina - just thinking about any harm coming to Ayari chilled her to the bone. Now in better spirits, she continued to riff on Scar.

"You want to know something else about Scar? It's a thing I noticed at the border - he hasn't marked it yet. What kind of lion goes that long without marking the border? That's how you get rogues, you know..."

Sarabi started giggling, but then caught herself: "No - it's no laughing matter. Sarafina - all of this is just between us, all right? Between best of friends. You can't mention any of this to anyone else!"

"You don't have to remind me, I'm the one who had a cub with a rogue..."

"My point exactly. You know, it doesn't surprise me that Scar hasn't marked the borders. I don't know what he thinks it means to be king of this pride, but... it's like he doesn't want to put in any effort. Take what happened this afternoon, after you left: when we were done with the one trial, he withdrew to his cave, and we didn't get to see him again for the rest of the day. All those animals gathered to seek the king's judgment, and he just leaves after one case!

"It was up to Zazu to handle the rest of it - Zazu, of all animals! You can imagine how well that went; that bird has the air of a giraffe, but the spine of a worm - and about as much authority. Perfect aid to a king, but not a stand-in. It was hopeless - everyone left eventually, with none of their problems resolved. If you should hear of the elephants and the rhinos coming to blows, now you'll know why..."

"That... that's not good," Sarafina agreed, "I mean, I won't presume to know what it's all about to be king, but... what has he been up to, really? It's like the one big thing he's done, pretty much the only thing, is letting those damned hyenas into the Pridelands - and look how well that's turning out!"

She expected the former queen to offer a full-throated endorsement of that appraisal, but Sarabi stayed oddly quiet, gazing out into the dark of night. Eventually, she did speak up, quietly: "You know, I wonder about that, sometimes... if... maybe... we were wrong."

"How so?" Sarafina didn't follow what her friend was talking about at all.

"Since Scar let them into the Pridelands, I've visited the Elephant Graveyard, once. It's grim and barren; nothing grows there, and there are no large prey to be had. Before, whenever the hyenas would try and poach in the Pridelands, Mufasa would drive them off, and I was glad he enforced their banishment. But now that I've been to that awful place we exiled them to... I don't know how we expected them to survive there..."

"None of that matters. Sarabi, the point of exiling them was to keep the far away from us, and keep us and our cubs safe - the rest of it is an afterthought."

"I know... It's just... they have cubs of their own, don't they? They must care about them, like we do, and by keeping them exiled..."

"Sarabi, stop - just listen to yourself!" the other lioness interrupted sternly, "This is the scum that tried to kill our cubs! Have you forgotten about what happened when Nala and Simba got lost and ended up in the Elephant Graveyard? The hyenas tried to kill them! Who would do that to two innocent cubs?

"You talk as if hyenas are just like us - they're not! Violent freaks is what they are. I would never try to kill an innocent cub, never, because it' just wrong - but they don't care about that, they'll kill anything, and have fun doing it too! They don't even care about each other; I mean, have you ever even seen them eat? It's brutal. And this afternoon, when you gave that outlaw time to say her goodbyes: three lines, and she was gone, like she didn't even care about her daughter and her pride, or clan, or whatever it's called.

"If you still have any doubts, consider this: just now, as I was coming back here, a mob of them threatened me - unprovoked, out of the blue, a whole gang of them coming at me! I had to fight my way through just to get to my own home! That's what it's come to now that they're on the loose. They're a threat, that's all they are - a danger to our pride, and our cubs, and I'd as soon be rid of them all."

"I suppose you're right," Sarabi sighed, "Between a king that won't rule, and the hyenas loose in the Pridelands, it's a difficult time for our pride. But we'll manage; we always have. Long as we lionesses all stick together, we'll be alright - the hyenas might outnumber us, but we're still stronger."

"If we stick together," Sarafina agreed.

They sat in silence for a while.

"You want to hear something more cheerful?" Sarabi suddenly asked, smiling, "You know who came up to me the other day to ask if she could look after the cubs sometimes? Zira! Imagine that. It has taken a while, but it looks like surly Zira is finally coming out of her shell a bit."

"Huh. Zira... Tell you the truth, I don't like her. She's always keeping her distance, looking all angry and suspicious if ever you dare ask anything of her. She's been in our pride for some time now, and she still acts like an outsider - her and that friend of hers, Tuli. That one doesn't have it as bad, she's nice enough - although I did hear she's been seen hanging out with hyenas; don't know what to make of that... Plus, the way they keep apart from the pride, always sleeping together, just the two of them outside of the main den... and they don't have any cubs, neither. There's something off about it..."

Although Sarabi did share some of her friend's concerns, she found it a bit troubling to hear her talk about fellow lionesses like that.

"You shouldn't be so harsh, Sarafina. The way I heard Mufasa tell it, they went through a lot before Ahadi allowed them into our pride. Let's just be glad Zira seems to be stepping up to the plate, and even try to encourage her. Promise me you won't give them a hard time - we lionesses have to stick together, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right - as always," Sarafina grinned, "I might not like her all that much, but Zira is definitely one I'd want on my side in a fight - she looks scary tough sometimes. She can probably handle some cubsitting."


	9. Child's play

**preface: bit more time between updates. Not super motivated - when that happens, the trick is to just keep chipping away at it. Does take longer than when you're in the flow.**

* * *

 **Child's play**

"I don't think this was a good idea..."

"Nonsense, you'll do fine!"

"What if I just didn't go?"

"You can't just not go, everyone is already counting on you to do this."

"But I don't want to! Can't you do it in stead?"

"Sorry, Zira, but I have things to do. Plus, it's you who wanted a chance to spend some time with Nala - it's your conspiracy theory, you figure it out."

Zira frowned, grumbling under her breath, but she didn't lodge any further protest. She'd hated the idea of cubsitting from the moment Tuli proposed it, and she was even less enthused now that she was actually up for it. There was nothing else for it, though: it would be the only chance for her to have some time alone with the cub called Nala. She needed to interrogate her about the late prince Simba, find out if the little runt ever let anything slip about a threat to his life, or something like that. It could be another piece to the puzzle that was Scar's kingship.

Zira was growing more suspicious of Scar's rise to power by the day; there were too many things that didn't make sense. Scar's story of how the former king died had proven to be inaccurate, omitting a last ditch effort by Mufasa to climb out of the Gorge where he died. That the king had failed to make the climb was also quite suspicious, seeing as how Zira had managed on her first try without much trouble. Then there was the question of what Simba and Mufasa had been doing in the Gorge to begin with.

Last but not least, why did Scar allow the hyenas back into the Pridelands, and why was it the very first thing he did as king? Tuli had tried convincing Zira it might have been out of conviction, or kindness - lately, Zira's friend had been developing some sympathy for the poachers, and she thought it might have been the same for Scar. Good on her, but Zira didn't buy it, and she wouldn't rest easy until she'd done all she could to get to the bottom of the matter. But she had to do it without raising any suspicion.

Who was it Zira was afraid of alerting? Anyone - apart from Tuli, Zira didn't trust any of the lionesses, let alone Scar and his hyena-minions. Lion or hyena, it didn't matter, they could all turn killer on a dime - better to trust no-one. Zira had learned that he hard way.

All the more reason to try and pry some info out of Nala; cubs are pretty guileless, so Zira didn't worry too much about them. All the same, she would still have preferred not to do any cubsitting. Her last experience with cubs was back when she'd still been one herself. But she was committed to the job now - no way but forward. At a deliberately slow pace, she followed Tuli to the communal den, where the cubs were waking up from their noontime nap. It'd be on Zira to keep them entertained 'till sometime after sundown.

When the lionesses took a siesta, they slept wherever was convenient for them; might be somewhere on Priderock, or any random spot of shade out in the Pridelands - where they happened to be was where they'd sleep. Not so for the cubs: they were kept together, to be returned to the communal den at set times, mostly as a safety-precaution. When Zira and Tuli got to the den, it was deserted save for the cubs and their caretaker. They were already up, with most of the cubs play-fighting under the watchful eye of Winda, mother of the oldest cub Chumvi. The lithe, ocher-furred lioness hailed the duo as they entered.

"Zira, Tuli! 's About time you showed up, I don't think I can keep these little devils cooped up in here much longer. Okay kids, calm down, come over here, and say hi to Zira - she'll be keeping an eye on your for the rest of the afternoon."

Of the six cubs in attendance, only two did as they were told, Chumvi and Nala. The others continued to romp about unabated, shouting and giggling over Winda's commands.

"Hey, I told you to get over here!" the lioness shouted when she noticed the other cubs kept messing around, "You don't want to see me angry this early in the afternoon!"

The lioness' voice rang throughout the cave, stopping the youngsters in their tracks. That got their attention - sometimes there really is no substitute for volume. All the cubs gathered in front of Winda, looking up questioningly at Zira, who was in turn nervously glancing sideways at Tuli.

At least she knew who all the cubs were. Chumvi was by far the biggest of the bunch, with the same slight built as his mother, and the beginnings of a wavy, jet-black mane. The only other male cub, Mheetu, was still too young to look distinctly different from the three young lionesses his age, called Kali, Zimua, and Rinda. The last cub, then, was easier to tell apart: you could tell from her size that the cream-colored cub with the blue eyes was younger than the others. Her name was Nala.

"So, Zira, I see you brought Tuli. Is she going to join you, or..."

"No, I'm just here to drop Zira off - she's a bit nervous," Tuli replied, earning her an annoyed growl from Zira. The tan lioness' embarrassment was only further increased when her friend nuzzled her playfully in response. "I'm actually due to get a tour of the Elephant Graveyard today. It's where the hyenas used to live."

"Wow, an elephant graveyard, that sounds so cool!" Mheetu immediately piped up. Him and the rest of the cubs rushed Tuli, jumping up and down, asking if they could come along. Only Nala remained behind, refusing to join in and protesting loudly: "No, it's not cool! It's dangerous, and you could die if you go there!"

"How would you know?"

"I've been there!"

"Pfff, who cares what you think, you little crybaby," Mheetu snorted.

"She's just a scaredy-cat! Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat!" Kali chimed in, snickering. The other cubs giggled along, save for Chumvi who was left frowning in silence.

"Hey! Enough!" Winda thundered, "Nala has got more sense than the rest of you put together - not one of you is going to the Elephant Graveyard, understood? That place is dangerous even for grown lions. Zira, make sure they don't try anything stupid, like sneaking off, all right? Don't be afraid to knock them about a bit if they do - it'd be well deserved."

"Sorry, guys 'n galls, you heard her, too dangerous," Tuli agreed, disentangling herself from the mob and making her way to the exit, "Plus, I'm pretty sure your moms would have my neck if I let you come along. Zira will no doubt help you find plenty of other fun things to keep yourselves occupied with."

Further protest was silenced with one firm look back from Winda. Leaving the cubs in the hopefully capable paws of Zira, the lioness followed Tuli out of the cave and quickly caught up with her once outside.

"Hey, Tuli, wait - you're really going to the Elephant Graveyard?"

"Yep," the pale lioness replied cheerily, "I told you, I'm getting a tour of the place."

For a few moments, the other lioness only sat there biting her lip and staring at Tuli, before she finally asked, quietly: "You're going to see hyenas, aren't you?"

"I am." She'd been hanging out with a trio of young hyenas she once met on a failed hunting-trip, though never very long, or near where other lions were. The most enthusiastic of the bunch, called Mizuri, even insisted on introducing the lioness to her mother - it had been a polite but exceedingly awkward affair. Tuli hadn't spent much time with the other two, Hasira and Nyeusi, not yet anyway.

Winda bit her lip again, demurring. "They're bad news you know. My mother used to tell me of how my grandmother had gotten into a great big fight with the hyenas, and about how they live by stealing kills from others - evil, vicious, thieving, ... well, you get the picture. With all the times Mufasa had to chase them out of the Pridelands when they came poaching, I don't think she was wrong about them."

"I was in a big fight with hyenas once," Tuli replied casually, careening her head over to her heavily scarred flank, "Can't quite remember which of these scars were made back then, though. At any length, I've had my share of nasty encounters with hyenas. But since they've moved into the Pridelands... I dunno, some of them have been very nice to me... don't really know what to make of it all."

"Yeah, I can't really figure it out myself either. All these things I thought I knew - and then our king suddenly lets the hyenas in, and they mostly just, I dunno, they just do their thing. It ain't evil, it's mostly just boring. They are pretty strange, though."

"They are. They're different, not the same as us. Still, I can't help but feel there's _something_ there. Zira keeps wondering why Scar would let the hyenas into the Pridelands, but now that I've spent some time with them, I think I get it. Scar must have seen something in them, and I think I'm starting to see it too. Could be wrong, though - all this will end up sounding very silly if at some point they decide to try and eat me!"

"That would pretty much settle it, it would," Winda chuckled uncomfortably, "Say, Tuli... I've never actually seen the Elephant Graveyard up close myself... I don't suppose I could, you know, tag along for a bit?"

"Sure, I'd love for you to come along!" Tuli grinned, "And I'm certain the hyenas won't mind either. After all, if they are planning to eat us, it just means more for them, right?"

* * *

"So... what do you kids usually do at a time like this?"

The cubs looked at each other wonderingly. Was this lioness called Zira being serious? The lioness guarding them was supposed to take charge, not sit there with a scowl waiting for them to take the initiative. But while the other cubs just stared at Zira bemusedly, Mheetu had already sensed an opportunity for mischief.

"Well, miss Zira," he started sweetly, "What we usually do is go out to some place or other, and then everyone just does their own thing for the day, we all go where we want, and then just meet back after a while."

Mheetu tried his best to look like innocence incarnate, but Zira was having none of it. She got up and advanced on the cub, baring her teeth and backing the youngster into the corner.

"If you lie to others, at least do them the courtesy of making it believable," she growled, "Otherwise you make it seem like you think them fools - animals tend to take offense to that."

"I-I'm sorry," the cub stuttered, "Honestly, I didn't mean to..."

"Much better!" Zira interrupted, "You're still lying, but it's a lot more convincing this time around."

She left Mheetu alone, and turned towards the other cubs, "Enough nonsense. Let's get out of this place."

Momentarily scared straight, the cubs followed the adult lioness and hurried out of the cave. Once outside, Zira kept going, taking them away from Priderock with the offhanded comment that she thought the place "too crowded", even though only a handful of other lionesses were lounging around.

"Out in front where I can see everyone - especially you!" she ordered, fixing her stare on Mheetu. The youngster didn't like being told what to do by the upstart lioness, though, and was already planning his next move. He started walking next to Chumvi, whispering to the larger cub when he though Zira wasn't paying quite as much attention anymore.

"Hey, Chumvi, you mind helping me out with something?"

"Why, you're fixing to get into trouble again? I'm sure you can manage that without my help."

"Well someone has to show that lioness who's boss," the younger cub grinned, "Never talked to us before, and now she thinks she can just come and tell us what to do? She hardly even knows us!"

"I don't know, Mheetu, she looks like a mean one. Why don't we just play it cool for the day?"

"Fat chance! I'm going to go see the Elephant Graveyard, and I'm not going to let anything stop me - certainly not that bossy lioness."

"Don't you think that's dangerous? Mom just said it's where the hyenas used to live... Plus, you don't even know where it is."

"What, you're running scared too?" Mheetu sneered, "It'll be fine - King Scar said the hyenas are supposed to be our friends now anyway. And I'll just get Nala to give me directions."

"Fine, as long as you don't expect me to come with - I don't want any trouble," Chumvi sighed, "What do you need me to do?"

"I need a distraction. How about you try to race Zimua and Rinda? Then, once Zira comes after you, me and Kali will make a run for it. By the time she catches you and gets back, we'll be halfway to where we want to go already!"

"What about Nala?" Chumvi asked, "She wouldn't be able to keep up in a race, and she already said she didn't want to go to the Elephant Graveyard."

"I don't care what she does - let the stupid crybaby stay behind for all I care."

Chumvi frowned. He didn't like how Mheetu and Kali kept picking on Nala. Yet didn't think remarking on it would help her any, so he didn't.

"All right, it's your funeral," Chumvi shrugged eventually, giving up on trying to convince his friend. He went up to Zimua and Rinda to challenge them to a race, while Mheetu slunk over to his closest friend Kali and informed her of his little plan. She was both delighted at the chance to go see the Elephant Graveyard, and impressed by Mheetu's daring - now there was a real lion, unlike that boring, timid Chumvi.

All the while, Nala could see the other cubs whispering too each other, but never to her. She was being left out again, even by Chumvi, who would otherwise always be nice to her. They always did that, not let Nala play along, and she wondered if it was because she was younger, or because they just didn't like her? When the others suddenly began their race, Nala was still caught up in her own thoughts.

The only warning Zira got was when Chumvi shouted "Race ya!", before three of the cubs suddenly bolted away laughing. She called on them to stop and stay in sight, but they ignored her. Cursing angrily, using language quite inappropriate for her current audience, she made to catch up with the runaways, but not before warning the remaining cubs.

"Damn it! All right, I'm going to go and try to catch those blasted little rats. You three stay here - try anything funny, and I'll skin you alive! Especially you!" She again focused most of her ire on Mheetu, who in turn maintained an almost angelic air. As soon as Zira was out of sight, he turned to Nala.

"Quick, Nala, tell us where the Elephant Graveyard is - if you don't, you'll be sorry!"

"But... didn't Zira just tell us to..." Nala tried to stop the others from leaving, but Kali viciously cut her off.

"Heavens, I don't care! Mheetu and me are not a scaredy-cats like you, Nala! We're not scared of Zira, and we're not scared of the Elepahnt Graveyard. Now tell us where it is!"

The two cubs threateningly advanced on their younger companion when she didn't immediately respond. Panicking, Nala blurted out that the graveyard was on the northern border. It only occurred to her afterwards that she could have given them false directions, for their own good of course.

"How very sweet of you to tell us," Kali said icily, "All right, now's our chance - lets go!"

With that, her and Mheetu ran away and left Nala behind, alone. After a little while, however, it suddenly dawned on Kali they were going the wrong way. When she told Mheetu, he explained how that had been his plan all along: they'd go halfway back to Priderock, and only then turn towards the Elephant Graveyatd. Meanwhile, Zira would be expecting them to beeline straight for the boneyard, and go looking for them along that route - but doing so she'd come up empty.

"That's some quick thinking, Mheetu - you're so smart!" Kali complemented breathlessly

"I know," he smirked. The cub didn't get the chance to bask in his own smugness for long, though - he'd hardly finished speaking when something heavy suddenly pressed down on his shoulders, causing his legs to buckle. Mheetu's slammed into the dirt face-first, coming to a sliding halt, unable to get up because of the weight still pressing down on him. A shadow loomed overhead. The cub spit out some grass and dirt, then looked sideways and saw that Kali was down on the ground too, a lioness' paw pressed firmly on top of her.

He tried to look up, and Zira's head came into view. The lioness was breathing heavily, lips contorted into a furious snarl, eyes burning red.

"I wasn't even doing anyth...!" Mheetu's breath cut off when Zira pressed down even harder. He couldn't breathe, and he struggled furiously to get out from under the adult lioness, to no avail. Zira put her snout to the cubs ear - he could feel it when she exhaled.

"I told you to stay put, you little shit... You should have listened..." she hissed through clenched teeth. She let up the pressure somehowwhat, and Mheetu tried to take a big, relieved breath, only to freeze when he felt claws digging into his back. "From now on, you'll do exactly as you are told, or..." The lioness made one shallow cut across Mheetu's shoulder blade. The cub screamed out in pain.

Kali's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe what she was seeing! She'd never know a grown lioness to hurt a cub like that before. When Zira looked at her, she wanted nothing more than to run away, but the lioness still kept her pressed to the ground. Seeing the cub's terror, Zira grinned maliciously.

"So, I take it you've learned your lesson, too?" Kali nodded furiously. "Good. Now, I'm going to let you get up, and we'll make our way back to the others. No running, no whining, no scheming, no trickery, no racing - you won't do anything unless I tell you to."

When Zira let her go, Kali immediately ran over to Mheetu.

"Mheetu, are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" he grunted, pushing Kali away. His teary sniveling made the attempt at saving face rather unconvincing, though, and he eventually allowed his friend to lick clean the wound Zira had inflicted. On closer inspection, it very much looked like too small an injury for the anguished shout Mheetu had let out.

Herding the two escapees in front of her, Zira returned to where she had left the other cubs. She was relieved to see no-one else had run off in the meantime - it very much seemed like Mheetu and Kali were the biggest troublemakers, and the others just followers.

"Told you it wouldn't work," Chumvi whispered as soon as he saw Mheetu.

"Whatever! It's probably your fault anyway; you should have run faster, and then she wouldn't have been on to us so quickly."

"That's right!" Kali chimed in, " And besides, how did she even know where to find us? We weren't going straight for the Elephant Graveyard, after all..."

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Zira sneered, "Now get moving!"

But Mheetu wasn't about to just let let the matter drop. He was angry at his little plan coming apart, at being hurt, at being made a fool of in front of the others, and, most of all, at being made to feel powerless. "No, wait, I know what happened! Nala told her; she was the only one who saw where we went, and she keeps trying to tell us not to go to the Elephant Graveyard!"

Mheetu and Kali growled at Nala. But this time, the cream-colored cub wasn't going to let herself be intimidated. "I was just trying to keep you safe! The Elephant Graveyard is dangerous, you'd just end up getting yourselves hurt!"

"Tattletale! Snitch!" Mheetu hissed. He made to pounce Nala, but a quick swat from Zira's paw brought him back down.

"Enough! Leave her alone, or you'll be dealing with me. Now move!"

Sufficiently intimidated, Mheetu and Kali didn't dare speaking up again and were reduced to shooting nasty looks at Nala. The group got moving, with Nala consciously keeping some distance from the others.

Chumvi felt sorry for the youngest cub. She'd just tried to do the right thing, and now she was being attacked for it. He'd never dare do that himself, stand up to someone older or more popular. Even now that he was the oldest and strongest of the cubs, he still let Mheetu talk him into doing stupid things, like racing the others to distract Zira. He went to walk beside Nala and told her how he thought she was in the right.

"Thanks, Chumvi. But if you think Mheetu was wrong, why didn't you say or do anything to stop him? You're the oldest, he'll listen to you. But you even helped him by racing Zimua and Rinda... why'd you do that?"

"I dunno," the dark-maned youngster shrugged, "Because he's my friend?"

"Friends shouldn't let friends get into trouble like that."

"I guess..."

* * *

After a while the group reached a clearing ringed by rocks and trees, suitably remote for Zira's liking. She took up position under a leafy, thick-stemmed baobab, and told the cubs to keep themselves busy and stay where she could see them. They busied themselves with pouncing and playfighting, though with little enthusiasm, and they didn't dare trying to race each other again.

After regarding the cubs a while, Zira took Mheetu aside. Having had some time to think things over, Zira realized she might have overreacted a bit when she scratched him earlier - in fact, she risked getting into trouble should the other lionesses find out how rough she'd been with their spawn. So now, she'd see if she couldn't try and patch things up with the mischievous cub.

"How's the shoulder, kid?"

"Fine - no thanks to you!" he spat.

 _Tough crowd._

"I'd rather not have hurt you, you know. But you didn't leave me much choice. Wanna know why I was so hard on ya?"

"Because you hate me, and you like hurting me!" the cub growled.

"That's not why. I don't hate you - I hardly know you."

"Then it's because you're evil."

That made Zira smile. Evil, huh? "Maybe a little. All the more reason for you not to anger me. But that's not why I hurt you. It's 'cause I needed to teach you a lesson."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Two of them in fact. The first one: don't mess with me. I'm sure you got that. But more importantly, don't get into a fight you can't win."

"But I wasn't trying to pick a fight," the cub whined.

"No? You were lying to me, running away, not doing as you were told; you were defying me. If you defy someone, either they roll over, or they fight you - and when they do, you'd better know how to beat them. What did you think was going to happen, that I was just going to let you get away with walking all over me?"

"No. But I didn't think you'd find us anyway," Mheetu admitted, "We weren't going straight for the Elephant Graveyard, after all... If only Nala hadn't told on us..."

"Trying to outsmart someone is just another kind of fight, a battle of the wits," Zira shrugged, "You look like a smart enough kid, Mheetu. It's just that you couldn't outsmart me, this time."

"So you think I'm smart, huh?"

"Smart _enough_."

"Well.. thanks, I guess. Still, if it weren't for that tattletale Nala..."

"You know, there's another lesson in this for you," Zira interrupted when she saw Mheetu looking over at Nala, "Never trust anyone."

That piece of advice left Mheetu visibly confused; it was diametrically opposite to anything the other lionesses had ever told him. Zira elaborated: "If you put someone in a position where they can tell on you, you shouldn't be surprised when they do. It's your own fault giving them that power over you. Don't blame Nala because she told on you - it's your own fault for trusting her not to.

"Anyway, that's enough talk. From now on, just do as I tell you, and we'll end up best of friends. I might even see if I can't take you to go visit the Elephant Graveyard sometime."

Mheetu's eyes went wide. "You'd do that? Even after you got so upset when I..."

"Sure. I don't care that you tried to go there, it's just that you tried to go there when I told you not to. Big difference."

With that, she let Mheetu get back to his playmates. Zira trusted that the promise of visiting the Elephant Graveyard at some point would keep him from piping up about her cubsitting skills. She didn't exactly relish having to spend more time with the brat, but it was preferable to having to explain herself to an angry mom.

With all that out of the way, Zira set out to accomplish what she had planned to do in the first place when she volunteered to go cubsitting: have a friendly little chat with Nala. In that regard, the whole spat with Mheetu turned out to have been a blessing in disguise: most of the other cubs seemed to be blaming Nala for telling on their friend, making her much more amenable to Zira's company. What's more, it gave Zira an easy excuse to engage the cub. She went over to where Nala and Chumvi where playing together. The young male seemed concerned when Zira took Nala of his paws. When Rinda later asked him why he even bothered wasting his time on the young cub, he brushed her off, telling her that "I just felt sorry for her, 's all."

Zira guided Nala out of earshot from the others. "I noticed most of the other cubs didn't seem to want to talk to you... They're not giving you too much of a hard time on account of what you said to me earlier, are they?"

"They're just being stupid," Nala replied, more angry than sad, "Think they're so much better than me 'cause they're older."

"Yeah, I noticed; you're the youngest, aint'ya? That one lion seems nice enough, though. Chumvi's his name, isn't it?"

"He's all right," Nala admitted, before adding: "Bit boring, though. He's always just going along with what the others do, even though he's older than they are!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like just now, how he was helping Mheetu by racing - no, wait, I meant..." Nala caught herself halfway when she realized Zira didn't even know Chumvi had intentionally distracted her.

It earned her a chuckle from the older lioness. "Just can't help yourself from snitching, huh?"

Nala wasn't amused. "Please don't do anything to Chumvi, I don't want him to hate me too!"

"Hey, lighten up, it was just a joke. Plus, it's like you said: he's just a follower. That's punishment enough; pretty pathetic, really, and it'll get him in plenty of trouble down the line, if you ask me."

"Just don't tell him what I said!"

"Yeah, yeah. So he's the only one that'll hang out with you? Don't have anyone your own age? Must be tough."

"Not anymore," Nala whispered, and she stared down at her paws. She didn't see the slight smile appearing, then immediately disappearing from Zira's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Not really - it was exactly what Zira was getting at. "I forgot about that. Yeah, come to think of it, you must have been pretty close with Prince Simba, what with him being the only cub your age and all..."

"He was my best friend - we did everything together..."

Everything? Good thing you skipped out on his little sojourn to the Gorge, then. "Really? Tell you the truth, I don't really know that much about Simba..."

Zira spent the next few moments quizzing Nala on Simba, without really ever learning anything interesting. Only once their conversation started to die down, did they happen upon the subject of the Elephant Graveyard - Zira offhandedly asked the cub why she'd been so adamant about not wanting to go there anyway, seeing as how she didn't come across as particularly timid. It's then that Nala recounted how she and Simba had once sneaked over to the boneyard, only to end up with three hyenas chasing them, trying to eat them.

In of itself, that didn't tell Zira much: at that point, the hyenas and the lions had still been mortal enemies, so there was nothing particularly surprising about them trying to kill a couple of intruders. Intuiting that the whole affair might have been a trap, though, Zira inquired if Nala thought anyone had put Simba up to the idea of going there, but she replied she didn't know. No luck there.

One little detail of Nala's report did pique Zira's interest: the cub noted that she overheard the hyenas talking to one another, and that one of them had been called Shenzi. The only time Zira had heard that name before had been when she'd attended a court-day some time ago, and one of the other attendees had been the hyena queen (or, as Tuli would point out, versed in hyena lore as she now was, the hyena matriarch). She was also called Shenzi.

Zira sent Nala away, needing some time to herself so she could think things over.

Scar had allowed the hyenas into the Pridelands as soon as he became king. Zira reasoned that must have meant he'd had some contacts with Shenzi, the hyena leader, before that time. It couldn't be otherwise - no way she would have trusted a strange lion enough to just instantly accept the invitation into the Pridelands. Such an invitation coming from a stranger could have been a ruse, a trap - even hyenas wouldn't be stupid enough to just take their eternal enemy's word for it. No, she must have trusted Scar, meaning she must have know him beforehand. Was Scar palling around with the hyenas while at the same time they were trying to kill the heir to the throne? Shenzi herself complicit in the attempt, no less - couldn't even blame it on an ignorant underling.

Now that would be a nice _quid pro quo_ : the hyenas kill the heir, Scar gets the throne, and then he lets his accomplices into the Pridelands.

Except it didn't happen like that; Mufasa and Simba were killed in a stampede. Suspicious dealings all around, it seemed, but none of the pieces seemed to fit together. All it did was feed Zira's suspicion without getting her any closer to a resolution.

What a waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

Frustrated that she'd come at another dead-end, she turned her attention back to the cubs. They were fooling around as carefree as could be expected of anyone who knew Zira was watching them. It only served to heighten Zira's annoyance: hyenas were loose in the Pridelands, and conspiracies abound - these cubs would grow up in a dangerous and uncertain future... Yet all they engaged in was pointless, childish games!

That just wouldn't do.

She roared for the cubs to assemble, and they were quick to oblige - making an example of Mheetu had served Zira well in that regard.

"All right, you've had enough time to play around today, it's about time you brats learned something useful!"

"But we already had hunting lessons yesterday..." Kali complained. At their age, those "lessons" mostly involved two attempts at stalking, followed by the instructing lioness loosing control of the group, after which they mostly just went around pouncing one another for the rest of the afternoon.

" _We already had hunting lessons yesterday_ ," Zira mimicked, putting on her best whiney voice, "You've got plenty of stamina to hatch a plot to run away to the Elephant Graveyard, but when your elders ask you to do two things on two days, that's too much? Not buying it. And besides, hunting is child's play; they hardly have to teach you anything. No, it's about time you little rats got a real education. I'm going to teach you how to fight."

"Miss Zira, that's silly; we already know how to fight - in fact, we fight all the time! Watch!" To illustrate his point, Mheetu immediately jumped Nala and pinned her to the ground. She screamed in protest, but the young male gleefully held her down.

"That's not a fight..."

"Sure it is!" Mheetu bit down on one of the younger cub's ears, and yanked it until Nala screamed out in pain.

"Aaah! Mheetu, stop it, you're hurting me! Get off me!"

"Why should I, you little snitch?" He used one paw to push Nala's snout into the dirt, "There, how you like that?"

"Stop it! Miss Zira, help me!"

But Zira only sat and watched impassively, as did Zimua and Rinda. Kali was sprawled out on the ground laughing out loud. The only one who seemed bothered by the display was Chumvi, but as soon as he looked like he was going to intervene, Zira stepped in.

"No! It's her problem, let her deal with it."

"Haha, fat chance! She's just a weak little crybaby - I could do this all day if I wanted to!"

Sensing she was on her own, Nala turned and squirmed, trying to get from under Mheetu, but to no avail. The older cub did for a moment almost loose his balance, causing him to have to put one paw on the ground right next to Nala's head. That's when she saw her chance. She bit down on Mheetu's paw as hard as she could. When he recoiled in pain, Nala was able to turn around, claw Mheetu across the face, and finally kick him off.

The male cub quickly recovered, though. He licked his own snout, and was surprised to taste blood.

"Aaah! Blood! I'll get you for that, you little..."

Only now did Zira finally separate the two cubs. "Enough! Good show, though. Now _that_ was a fight. I take it you all felt the difference?"

The two belligerents didn't respond, but only eyed each other nastily.

"Of course, I don't expect all of you to get into actual fights right now - but I'll try and show you how to come out on top if you do ever get into one. Especially you lionesses - there won't always be a lion around to defend you and yours, and when that time comes, you'd better know how to take care of yourself. Little Nala here showed how useful raw fear and anger can be, but it's not enough to rely on those. You have to train. Me and my friend Tuli have been in a few tough fights, and ever since we've spared regularly, just to keep our skills sharp..."

After explaining a few basics, she paired the cubs up so they could try their paws at some mock-fighting - taking care to keep Nala, Mheetu and Kali separated so there wouldn't be any more actual fights. The youngsters seemed to take to the assignment well enough. Even Nala, although at first upset about the incident with Mheetu, eventually ended up enjoying herself; at least now, she wasn't being excluded, unlike during free play.

Zira was pleasantly surprised at the cubs' aptitude, and at how much she actually liked engaging with them now that it involved something she knew and liked. She was giving serious thought to the idea of volunteering for cubsitting duty a second time just so she could keep on teaching them. One of the youngsters disappointed, though. After watching the halting, hesitant, almost clumsy display he put on, Zira called Chumvi to order.

"Chumvi, what 's this you're doing? Everyone is managing just fine, except for you - what's going on? You're the oldest, the biggest, and the strongest - but what I'm seeing here makes me think even little Nala could take you on!"

"I... I just don't like to fight," the dark-maned cub mumbled, looking away.

"You don't have to like it, you just have to do it."

"But I... I don't want to hurt anyone!"

Zira sighed. Of course he didn't. The would-be lion in front of her was having the exact same problem Nala was having, but from another angle: she was the only truly young cub, while Chumvi was older than everyone else. "Oh, I get it. Always being the oldest of the bunch has made you too cautious; if you don't hold back, the other cub end up hurt, and you get punished - right?

"Well, what you need, is to fight someone your own size!"

Without further warning, Zira suddenly lashed out at Chumvi, hitting him hard on the side of the head. She kept her claws retracted, but the force of the blow was enough to make the young lion topple over. As he groggily tried to get back up again, Zira started circling him.

"Still don't want to fight? Still don't wanna hurt anyone?"

Her next pawstrike targeted the cub's forepaws, again sending him to the ground.

"You're just going to sit there?"

When he got up again this time, Chumvi had his fangs bared.

"There we go. Different when you're up against someone big enough to actually hurt you, isn't it?"

This time, when Zira tried to strike at him, the young lion dodged. She struck again, and hit him, but this time he managed to stay standing. Then, he actually retaliated by trying to pounce at Zira. She easily turned the tables on him, of course, and he ended up on his belly, pinned to the ground, with Zira looming over him and whispering in his ear.

"There, I knew you had it in you! I'll make a killer out of you yet."

* * *

 **ps: alternative titles for this chapter were "Terrible life lessons with Zira", "Never let Zira alone with your children", "Zira: responsible adult", and "Zira: shaping the Pridelands' youth".**


	10. The Elephant Graveyard

**preface: an interesting point to note is that during the "Be Prepared" segment of the original movie, the whole hyena clan is made part of the song and dance, but when Scar reveals his intention to kill Mufasa, the scene is only between him and the trio. It's a fairly small conspiracy.**

* * *

 **The Elephant Graveyard**

It had been almost a year since Kuzinga joined the clan - Shenzi's clan. They were still living in the Elephant Graveyard back then. On the surface, joining this particular clan might have seemed an odd choice: their territory was barren an cramped, and they found themselves surrounded by desert, swamps, and two lion prides. The lions of the Great Swamps on the one side - isolated, inbred, and irrationally violent because of it - and the Pridelanders on the other border, a pride twice the normal size, more than a dozen adult lions in all.

But what made Shenzi's clan a poor prospect for most made it perfect for Kuzinga. He 'd been looking for a quiet place to lie low, and start a new life. Doing that would only be possible if he kept his being thrown out of another clan secret, which was a lot easier in a place surrounded by that many lions - fewwer passers-by who could recognize him. So as soon as he'd heard of this potential sanctuary, he made his way through the swamps, coming out alive only by the skin of his teeth. Trying to be on his best behavior, he then threw himself at the paws of the first other hyena he came across in the Elephant Graveyard, begging to be admitted into this unassuming clan.

As in most other hyena clans, the question of admitting new males was quite beneath the girls at the top, so they'd referred him to the ranking male, a horribly scarred but congenial old-timer called Kongwe. He was more than happy to welcome Kuzinga, seeing as how the clan's relative isolation meant they didn't get too many visitors to start with; they could use all the new blood they could get. And that had been that: a new clan, and a new, quiet life.

About one moon later, however, the weirdness started. An assembly of the clan was called, and this gathering was attended by a most peculiar guest: a lion by the name of Scar. In of itself an extremely strange occurrence; as far as Kuzinga knew, lions and hyenas everywhere regarded one another warily even in the best of times, and more often with outright hostility. Yet here they invited this shifty-looking lion to address the entire clan. The resident performance-enthusiast, a charming if slightly controlling lady called Leni, livened up the whole event with songs and choreographed marching. Strange thing to do, but to each his own.

The lion's pitch, from what Kuzinga could tell, was that the hyenas should support or accept him as king, and in exchange, he would allow them into his territory, the lush Pridelands. A pretty sweet deal, but one that didn't hold up under closer scrutiny. Kuzinga, being new to the area, did not know these things going into the speech, but it turned out that this Scar-character was not actually in charge of the Pridelands; his brother, an enormous lion called Mufasa, was the incumbent king, and Mufasa had an heir by the name of Simba. It wasn't Scar's territory, so he had no right to invite anyone in; by all accounts he could obviously never hope to fulfill his promise to the hyenas.

Yet the matriarch of the clan, Shenzi, knowing all that, still went ahead and accepted Scar's proposal, and the hyenas proclaimed him their king. Funny thing, that.

Then out of the blue, Mufasa died, as did his heir Simba, presumably. And so close on the heels of Scar's speech, what a strange coincidence! Next thing Kuzinga knew, the clan was let loose in the Pridelands, while the lions were still living there - also quite unheard of, not having separate territories.

A dangerous thing, living so close to lions.

At first, Kuzinga considered finding another clan again; he' been taught from childhood to fear lions, and the thought of living so close to them was pretty scary. On the other paw, heading out into the wilderness in search of a new clan was no less terrifying a prospect - if rogue lions didn't get him, other overly territorial hyenas might. In the end, he decided to stay, reasoning that lions would be a danger anywhere he went, and at least the Pridelands had plenty of food to make up for the risks.

Then he was suddenly called to meet the matriarch. It proved to be an exceedingly unpleasant encounter - Shenzi quickly deduced that Kuzinga was in fact a deserter from his previous clan, and held that over his head to leverage him into becoming her spy. Who did he have to spy on? The lions, of course. A few gratuitous threats sealed the deal.

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this! He'd joined the clan so he could live a life of quiet obscurity; a good meal every few days, maybe a girlfriend at some point, no conspiracies!

But what choice did he have? Head out into the desert? Back through the Great Swamps? That trip had nearly killed him several times over last time he made the crossing. Now that he had access to the Pridelands, he could also escape through the Riverlands... but the simple fact of the matter was that Kuzinga was tired of running. He desperately wanted a place he could call home...

The power of inertia eventually triumphed over his fear of lions, and he managed to convince himself that they couldn't be all bad: their new king had selflessly invited the hyenas into his domain, after all; that alone indicated that at least one of them was good at heart. So Kuzinga did as he was told, and tried his best to ingratiate himself with the pride. That been pretty much all he'd been doing for the past few moons.

As was to be expected, the lions didn't want anything to do with him, or with any other hyena. He'd been reduced to keeping an eye on them from a distance. They chased him off more than a few times. Only fairly recently had he encountered someone that seemed to be keeping a more open mind, a lioness by the name of Tuli. She'd struck up a sort of friendship with a couple of hyena-youngsters - two of them from high ranking families, it should be noted.

At first, Kuzinga had been thrilled: here was his first real chance to get acquainted with a lioness! If he played it right, that should be enough for getting Shenzi off his back: just put on a show of befriending the lioness, find out all she has to say, report back to Shenzi, fluff things up just a teeny bit to make it sound like he had put in more work than he actually had, and call it quits! Nothing more to do with lions, no more spying - just back to living the good life in the Pridelands!

That had been the plan anyway. He'd met Tuli on a couple occasions, but never really got around to saying more than a few words. Today would be different, though.

* * *

Kuzinga met up with Mizuri and Nyeusi just outside the Elephant Graveyard, a bit before noon. It had been Mizuri's idea to give Tuli a tour of the place, as a way of returning the favor for her letting them visit Priderock earlier. The idea suited Kuzinga fine; he'd still been a relative newcomer when the hyenas moved to the Pridelands, and he hadn't been part of the clan long enough to really get to see all the ins and outs of the boneyard himself. And of course, he was happy for any excuse to spend some time with a lioness, so he could acquit himself of the task of spying on them all the sooner.

Mizuri and Nyeusi were young hyenas - it wouldn't do to call them cubs, but they were still about a year away from being full-grown - who, along with a third friend of theirs who couldn't attend called Hasira, had first befriended the lioness called Tuli. In their youthful brashness kids could do something like that, while adults would act more carefully, and achieve nothing.

Kuzinga figured there was more to it than that, though. Not just any young hyena could have made the leap of seeing a lioness as a potential friend; he suspected a lot of it was down to Mizuri. Initially, he didn't care much for the red-headed youngster. All he seemed to notice about her was just how loud she could get at times. But the more time he spent with her, the more he started to see why, out of an entire clan, it was this hyena that had managed to befriend a lioness. She possessed the rare ability to be both energetic and outgoing, without being viciously aggressive in the process. Among hyenas, that's not a given.

When Tuli showed up for the tour, she wasn't alone. To everyone's surprise, it turned out she brought along a friend of hers, an older lioness called Winda. Kuzinga and Nyeusi were a bit wary at first - Tuli had been the only friendly lion they'd ever met, after all, and there was no telling how this Winda might turn out. Mizuri, on the other hand, immediately threw caution to the wind and greeted the lioness no different than she would have a hyena, eager at the opportunity to add a second lioness to her friends-list. They would spend most of the tour engrossed in talk just between the two of them, both eager to learn more about the mysterious "other". The upshot of that was that Tuli was now more or less condemned to chat it up with Kuzinga throughout the afternoon, seeing as how Nyeusi was being her usual taciturn self.

The itinerary of the visit consisted of the great caves, the geysers, the hot-spring, the actual boneyard, but also the farthest edges of the hyena territory, where the Graveyard connected to the swamps and the desert. Those marginal but not entirely barren borderlands were actually bigger than the Graveyard itself, and where the clan used to get most of its food. As the group meandered from sight to sight, Kuzinga was able to tease out a great many details about the lion pride from Tuli: names, relations, how Scar didn't have a mate yet, that the former queen was still held in high regard, how most of the lionesses loathed having the hyenas around... Nothing earth-shattering, but it was something.

Absorbed in the task of learning all he could about the lion pride, Kuzinga didn't pay too much attention to the tour. Only one of the stops really peaked his interest.

"Wait - what are the hot-springs? I never heard of those."

"You really are a newbie! How can you not have heard of the hot-springs? They're great! I'll show you now - follow me, it's this way."

The members of the group followed Mizuri's lead, and after worming their way through a succession of narrow passages, they arrived at a small caldera surrounded on all sides by high rock-faces. Like with the rest of the Graveyard, the surrounding rocks shrouded the place in permanent twilight. The faint but unmistakable scent of sulphur was everywhere.

"You do have to get get over the smell, but it's totally worth it!"

They entered the quasi-enclosed space through a crack in the rocks, where a small stream flowed out from the caldera. The water of the stream felt strangely hot, like a puddle that's been warmed by the sun - only, there was no sunlight here. Once they made it through the crack, there were rocky plateaus on either side, and a dark pool right in front. Steamy wisps rose up from the water's surface. They clambered up the elevated rocks on the right. Tuli, Winda and Kuzinga all peered over the edge, regarding the water curiously.

"So, what? It's like a watering hole... but the water is hot?"

"Pretty much."

"That all, huh? I don't see what the big deal is..." Kuzinga mumbled, seated on the edge of the plateau looking down. Then again, what was he expecting? It was called the hot-spring, figures it'd be like a spring, but hot.

"Oh, you will..." With a wink and a nod, Mizuri signaled Nyeusi, and without warning the both of them suddenly rushed Kuzinga, pushing him over the edge. He plunged into the water with a yelp, leaving the other two hyenas on their backs with laughter. When he came back up again, paddling furiously, he was spitting and coughing.

"Don't drink the water - it tastes pretty nasty," Nyeusi remarked dryly once the laughter had worn off.

"Yeah, thanks, I hadn't noticed," Kuzinga coughed angrily, still spitting up foul-tasting water.

"Hey Kuz', apart from the taste, how's the water?" Tuli asked, smiling.

"It's... huh... pretty neat, actually!" The water felt scalding hot at first, warmer than any he'd known before, but once over the initial shock it actually felt really nice to just float around lazily, taking in the heat.

"Good enough for me." With that, Tuli took a few steps back, and then took a running leap into the water. Winda followed suit, leaving Kuzinga scrambling not to end up under either lioness. Mizuri and Nyeusi were quick to join too. Four splashes in quick succession echoed amid the sound of sloshing water.

As he looked around, Kuzinga considered just how curious the scene must have looked. Of his companions, he could see only see their heads sticking out of the water, steam rising all around them. Lion and hyena, lounging in the hot-springs together, like it was the most normal thing in the world. The lionesses looked especially contented, no doubt pleasantly surprised by the feel of the water, just like Kuzinga was. His gaze then lingered on Mizuri, who was grinning broadly at the sight of Tuli and Winda, probably happy that her tour of the Elephant Graveyard was being so well received.

Kuzinga was struck by the sight of the young hyena. Her otherwise fluffy, rusty-colored manes now clung to her head and neck, draped sideways around her large ears and forward over her brow and onto her muzzle. Then Mizuri suddenly turned her head and caught Kuzinga staring. The look in her dark eyes was inscrutable, but her grin unmistakably mischievous. Kuzinga quickly looked away, but as soon as he did Mizuri started splashing water at him, not relenting until he looked at her again, smiling sheepishly.

Then Nyeusi unexpectedly turned up behind him and pushed his head underwater, much to Mizuri's amusement.

Ignoring the hyenas while they were having their fun, Winda let out a long, satisfied moan."Aah...Heavens! Hot-springs, where have you been all my life?"

"It's good, isn't it?" Tuli purred. The two lionesses settled in a shallow part of the pool, turning over on their backs.

"Yeaaah... I almost can't feel my aching paws anymore, if you'll believe it..."

Mizuri broke away from the scuffle with Kuzinga and joined the lionesses. "You know, this place is supposed to do wonders for your joints, or so I'm told. That's what makes it such a great place for the elderly!"

That comment earned Mizuri a glum look and annoyed grunt from Winda, causing the hyena to hastily add that she didn't mean to imply she thought the lioness was old or anything, inadvertently stating explicitly what she had supposedly been unwilling to imply.

"Don't sweat it," Winda grumbled once Mizuri had fallen silent in utter embarrassment. The lioness yawned, shifting in place a bit, eyes closed - a picture of total bliss. "I'm not exactly the youngest, not by any stretch... Seven cubs, and one grandkid even. Believe me, that takes some years."

"Wow, seven cubs, that's amazing!" Mizuri's unadulterated fawning caught the notice of the other two hyenas, and now they too paddled over to where the lionesses were. "You must be a very famous lioness then. I don't think there's anyone in our clan who's ever had as many. Most hyenas have maybe two or three..."

"Don't make too much of it. Only two of them survived," the lioness added flatly, causing the others to either gasp in disbelief or to look away uncomfortably.

Except for Kuzinga - he was squinting pensively. Then he remarked: "You know, I suppose we hyenas just count them differently."

A frowning Mizuri immediately hit him over the head, and rightly called him an idiot. It's wasn't so much that he was wrong - hyenas did have a complicated set of rules on what it means when a mother says she's had a cub - just that he chose the wrong time to be right, so close on the heels of the lioness' sad pronouncement. Not the best time to wax philosophically. It was the otherwise silent Nyeusi who eventually said the only possibly appropriate thing there was to say:"Sorry for your loss, Winda."

"It's all right. That's how these things go."

The carefree atmosphere of earlier eventually returned, and the party spent a fair bit of the afternoon just playing around in the hot-springs, Winda mostly just floating sedately while the others splashed, dunked and otherwise harried one another. Kuzinga was the first to get out of the pool, yearning to cool down a bit. It wasn't long before Tuli followed the hyena out. While the others were still fooling around in the water, she quietly addressed him.

"Say, Kuz', just between you and me - what are your thoughts on Mizuri?"

"Wha...?" the hyena replied, taken aback and sounding flustered, "I don't know! She seems... nice, I guess. Why would you even ask me that?"

"Oh, no reason..." Tuli smiled coyly.

"No, really, why?"

"Like you don't know!" But Kuzinga only stared back at the lioness dumbfoundedly. "Really, you don't know? Mizuri likes you, silly! Can't you tell?"

"Oh! Well... ah... that's... eh... okay."

"That all? What's the matter, you don't like her back? Why not? She's one of the nicest folks I ever met."

"No, it's not..." Kuzinga struggled to come up with the right response. What an odd thing for a lioness to get involved in! "I mean, I'm honored, obviously."

Tuli frowned, unsatisfied with his peculiar choice of words. "Honored" - if ever there were an more dispassionate way to talk about receiving someone's affection... But she misunderstood: for a male hyena, having no say in the matter himself, being honored is the only proper way to greet a lady's fondness. Before the lioness had a chance to further ponder the issue, Kuzinga continued.

"But, you know, she's still very young, so I bet it's just a passing fancy, 's all. That's how youngsters are."

"Too young, huh? I wouldn't know - she's about your height, so I figured... You that much older than her, then?"

"Two years, give or take... Gotta keep in mind, us hyena-guys tend to be a tad shorter than the damsels. Not like it is with you lions, obviously."

"Right..." Tuli drawled, a bit embarrassed, "Sorry, didn't mean to imply anything. I guess I just don't know too much about you. Kinda weird - it feels like we've been talking all afternoon, after all."

Suddenly Kuzinga got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. That's right - she didn't know anything about him. And that wasn't an accident. If Kuzinga had been trying to become friends with Tuli, they would have known these kinds of things about one another by now. But that wasn't what he was doing - no, he was just spying on her, needling her for information. Among all the fun and banter that afternoon, he'd forgotten all about that.

Now that Kuzinga fully remembered why he'd become acquainted with Tuli and Mizuri in the first place, he felt terrible. If the afternoon had proven one thing, it's that the both of them were perfectly lovely ladies, among the nicest animals he'd met since he joined the clan, who genuinely seemed to like him back... and all the while, he'd been an impostor, befriending Mizuri only so he could get in touch with Tuli... and he'd only been interested in Tuli so he could learn about her pride.

They didn't deserve that! These were good, well meaning folks, and they didn't deserve to have someone like Kuzinga deceiving them like that. And for what - because Shenzi asked him to, made some threats?

 _Nice going, Kuz', you're a real piece of work..._

"Hey Kuz', everything all right? You have the look of someone who just sat in a thornbush."

Tuli's joking remark pulled Kuzinga out of his remorseful rumination. He looked up at the lioness, and saw she had a concerned look about her. Concerned about him, about his well being - him, the jackass who'd been sent to spy on her.

 _Enough of this._

"I'm sorry, I... I just remembered something important... I have to go!"

Without another word, Kuzinga ran off.

* * *

 **ps: reviews obviously appreciated, also if you only point out things you don't like. That way, I know what works and what doesn't.**


	11. Among the hyenas

**preface: it's been too long! To make up for the long wait, here's a super-sized portion of hyena-centered drama. And even more to come in the next chapter!**

* * *

 **Among the hyenas**

You should always think first, then act. Doing something in the spur of the moment is usually a recipe for all kinds of trouble. Kunzinga knew this, on an intellectual level. If he would only stop to think things through, he would realize the wisdom of stopping to think things through - and there's the rub. He just hadn't. In stead, he was overcome by an acute pang of guilt, which spurred him into making an emotional and dramatic gesture.

Kuzinga only befriended Mizuri, Nyeusi, and the lionesses because he had ulterior motives: he'd been instructed by Shenzi to find some way to spy on the lions, and as soon as he found out about Mizuri's rapport with the lioness called Tuli, he jumped on that. The only problem was, they turned out to be a genuinely likeable bunch - he liked them, and what was worse, they liked him back. They showed genuine friendship, while he was just a double-dealing jerk.

He had realized all this quite suddenly, lounging around in the hot-springs. A sudden, terrible sinking feeling of guilt: what I'm doing is just wrong! And the unthinking reaction: to run away suddenly, so he could go confront the hyena who'd put him up to all that: Shenzi. Right then, that very instant, not a moment's delay or deliberation.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now, rushing through the gloomy and deserted Elephant Graveyard on his own, Kuzinga finally had some time to think things through. To think about how him suddenly bolting away would look to the others. All they knew was that Kuzinga had gotten flustered out of the blue, and ran off without another word. They'd likely be worried - of course they would be, they were nice like that! And they would wonder where he went... what would he tell them, if they asked?

If he told them the truth, that he'd been made to spy on the lions and all that, it'd probably be the end of their friendship. He certainly didn't want that... but the alternative was more lies...

That's where acting first and thinking second gets ya. So much for his dramatic exit.

All of that sank in well and good by the time Kuzinga reached the outer edges of the Elephant Graveyard, emerging out of the shadows. It was already late in the afternoon, and everything was bathed in a warm orange light. The sunset wouldn't be long coming. With an exasperated sigh, the hyena sank through his knees and dropped down in the dust, beating his head on the ground a couple of times for good measure.

"Idiot! You stupid idiot!" he grumbled to himself.

"Who you think you're calling an idiot, boy?"

Kuzinga jumped up with a start, unnerved by the deep, rasping voice that had answered him seemingly out of nowhere.

Another hyena was sitting close by, lounging on a flat rock - Kuzinga had been too busy self-absorbedly staring at his own paws to notice. His eyes were drawn to a hideous-looking scar that ran all the way around the top of the other hyena's neck. He got up to jump down from the rock, and Kuzinga backed away.

"Wow, I'm sorry, but I didn't know you were there, and I..."

Kuzinga was cut of by the sight of two more hyenas emerging from behind the rocks. The manes and tails of all three of them bristled up, a clear sign of hyenas looking for trouble. Kuziga backed away further. He didn't immediately recognizing any of them, and was at a loss as to why they'd be after him. Then he realized they might be members of his former clan, and his blood ran cold. Were they out to kill him?

"Hey, man, what's the big idea? I'm not looking for any trouble," he stammered.

"I'll be the judge of that. What were you doing in the Elephant Graveyard?" the scarred hyena snarled.

 _Why would they care about that?_

"None of your business," Kuzinga shot back, looking about him for a way around the hostile trio. They started to close in on him.

"I got word that a couple of lions were skulking 'round these parts... and I think that's what you were doing here." The scarred hyena bared his teeth, "I think you're a stinking lion-lover."

Kuzinga's ears perked up at that last part, and his panic evaporated.

"What, a "lion-lover"? Is _that_ what this is all about? Ha!" he snorted, both relieved and dismissive, "Here I was thinking this was something serious."

"You don't deny it?"

"Why would I? And who the hell are you to tell me who I can or can't hang out with? Get bent, bozo, I got places to be."

As was his wont, Kuzinga again failed to think things through, and he let his relief get the better of him. Though he needn't worry about these hyenas being out to kill him specifically, they were still pretty hostile, and there were three of them and only one of him. Predictably, they didn't take kindly to his casual insult. While the other two were stunned by the sudden reversal of Kuzinga's temperament, the scarred hyena was in stead struck by a sudden fury, and angrily lunged at the source of his ire. Kuzinga was able deflect that first chomp, and before long the two hyenas were going at each other with abandon, in a flurry of bites, kicks, scratches and yelps.

The scarred hyena's companions kept their distance at first - they seemed to have much less appetite for a fight. Not a stranger to violence from his time in between clans, Kuzinga managed to keep his own against the older hyena at first. He knew those other two wouldn't be standing around doing nothing forever, though, and as soon as the scarred hyena drew back a bit, he tried to break away and run for it.

Seeing Kuzinga bolt away finally jolted the others into action, however, and they were fast on his heels. One of them, a younger hyena with pale, straw-colored manes, proved to be a bit of a sprinting prodigy, and he overtook Kuzinga in no time at all, biting at his ankles and then slamming him to the ground. Before he could fight the young hyena off, the scarred one had already caught up, cursing viciously. Kuzinga's earlier relief had rightly turned to fear again, and he cowered under the onslaught of his opponents, desperately fending off their attacks, and not bothering to get any in himself anymore. He would have yielded, but the scarred hyena didn't seem to be of a mind to let him.

"Mbili, calm down, I think he's learned his lesson by now," the blonde hyena suggested, backing off. His other companion also relented, and only the scarred hyena Mbili was left facing a wounded, shrinking Kuzinga.

"Fat chance - this little maggot thinks he can cavort with the lions, and be a smart-ass to my face? I'll rip out his tongue, see how big he talks then!" With that, he positioned himself for another attack, only to be interrupted by a shout coming from the direction of the Elephant Graveyard.

"NO! Stop it, let go of him!"

Mbili looked up in surprise, and Kuzinga crawled away. Two younger hyenas came running, and positioned themselves between the combatants: Mizuri and Nyeusi.

"What on earth do you hink you're doing?" Mizuri demanded.

"That's none of your business, now get out of my way while I deal with this lion-lover," Mbili growled, trying to work his way around Mizuri to get at Kuzigna. The red-headed hyena kept shielding her friend from him, however.

"If it's lion-lovers you're after, you'll have to go through me first!"

"Don't push your luck, brat, or I just might..."

"Mbili!" Nyeusi suddenly intervened, her voice cool and measured, "She's one of Shenzi's cousins, and you're just another male - harm as much as a hair on her head and you'll regret it."

That intervention seemed to finally have shaken the scarred hyena out of his rage, because he immediately backed away. Suddenly, he seemed much older and more tired than he had before, breathing heavily and eyeing the ground between them. An odd silence fell.

Eventually, Mbili looked up again, suddenly teary-eyed, staring at Nyeusi.

"Nyeusi, I... They told me there were lions here, and there were hyenas with them... and I couldn't stand it, I just..." He snorted, and didn't finish his thought.

"I'm one of them. Us three, and two lionesses. Gave them a tour of the place."

"But Nyeusi... how can you just... What are you doing hanging around with these lions? Nyeusi, these lions, they... they banished your mother! They banished Toka, our Toka! I'll never get to see her again, all because of them!"

"No. Tuli didn't banish mom, and neither did Winda - they're not just lions, they have names. Be mad at Scar if you want, him and Shenzi, they're the ones that did it. But leave my friends out of it."

Mbili didn't have any response, and just hung his head in defeat. The others could but look on, only half understanding. Now Nyeusi approached the scarred hyena, and whispered so just the two of them could hear: "Dad, I know it hurts, but you have to let go. What you're doing now just makes it worse..."

For the briefest of moments, Mbili held his head up and looked Nyeusi in the eyes, but he soon turned down again, and walked off without another word. Left standing around awkwardly were his two companions, who quickly made to follow him. The blonde hyena turned around for a bit, and he looked like he wanted to say something to Nyeusi, but when the look she gave him was cold as ice, he slunk off as well.

* * *

"Good thing we showed up when we did, too, or he'd have eaten you alive."

"I could've taken him - it's just that he had help, 's all... Ouch! Hey, watch it!"

Mizuri looked up from licking the wound on Kuzinga's forepaw with a sly, knowing smile.

"... I mean, thanks for saving me out there..."

"Don't sweat it; that's what friends are for, right?"

That hit Kuzinga like a kick in the gut."Yeah, I guess so," he whispered. Good friend he was, spying on them, and then needing to be rescued. He quickly changed the topic: "Was Nyeusi all right? I did't really get what was happening between her and that freak, but it seemed pretty heavy."

Nyeusi had taken off right after the hyenas that attacked Kuzinga left. To see the lionesses home, but probably also because she needed a moment alone. Mizuri didn't mind staying behind with Kuzinga, ostensibly because she was worried he'd gotten himself hurt. They nestled themselves up on the flat rock where Mbili had been sitting before, to enjoy the last of the day's sunlight.

"She'll be fine - she's a pretty tough cooky, Nyeusi. And that "freak" was he father."

"Huh, you don't say? Doesn't look a thing like her... I suppose the big scar 'round his neck kinda makes it hard to focus on anything else... Wait a minute, now I remember! It's the same guy, from that one time at the trial, with Nyeusi's mother!"

"Ain't you a bright one," Mizuri smirked.

"Yeah, now I remember. Nyeusi's mom got banished, and he got off with having to haul in a couple of kills for the king. Heck, I'm pretty sure I even helped out with one of those - everyone kicked in for them. Damn ingrate, I help him out like that, and this is the thanks I get?"

"He probably just forgot about it - you forgot about him, too."

"Sure... I guess it makes sense now. Poor guy misses his mate. He shouldn't take it out on me, though, or the lions."

"I know, right?" Mizuri agreed, "Just because one lion does something to wrong you doesn't mean all lions are bad. But good luck trying to convince other hyenas of that..."

"Well, there's us, Nyeusi, and that other friend of yours, what's her name... Hasira. Us four get along with some of the lions at least, and I'm plenty sure there's others who think like us."

"Yeah... but there's probably four hyenas like Mbili for every one of us. Like Hasira's mom, Kato - she's _the worst_ , all stuffy and grim - she would have us go to war against the lions if it was up to her, too. And she's second only to Shenzi, so you'd better hope our dear leader goes ahead and finds herself a mate and has an heir real soon, or we're all going to be in deep trouble if anything ever happens to her..."

"Huh..." The fact of the matter was that Kuzinga's grasp of clan politics was quite poor, and he'd never even considered half the things Mizuri was telling him. Curious how so young a hyena kept herself busy with such serious affairs. Then again, from what he had gathered, Mizuri was rather high ranking - maybe such things were to be expected of girls like her.

He enjoyed listening to her talk like that. Reassuring, somehow.

"Say, Kuzinga?"

"Mhhh?"

"I was wondering: back at the hot-springs, why did you suddenly run off?"

Kuzinga's whole body tensed-up. So much for that briefly blissful moment.

"Well, I, uh... I had to... go... and uh..."

"You sound nervous," Mizuri said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"No, no! It's not you, I uh..." He alternated between biting his lip and trying to swallow with a dry troat, "I just thought of something, 's all, and I felt like I had to go see someone about that real quick."

"Oh... I understand," Mizuri whispered, drawing back and looking away, "You're seeing someone... That's okay, I... I shouldn't have..."

"What? No! It's not like that at all, I'm not "seeing" anyone! Mizu..." Kuzinga fell over himself trying to correct her. He touched one of her paws, and she looked back up at him. Her eyes were large and sad, and her manes the color of the setting sun. His first instinct was to tell her she looked beautiful, but he caught himself at the last moment. He closed his eyes and cringed.

"Damn it, this is all wrong! I'm sorry Mizu, I can't go on like this - I have to tell you something. I'm an idiot for telling you, but I can't stand not to. I'm not who you think I am... I mean, I am now, but, you know, not at first..."

Haltingly and with considerable effort, to Mizuri's rising shock and astonishment, Kuzinga explained the trouble he'd had with his previous clan, and the deal he'd made with Shenzi: spy on the lions and you get to stay. And critically, he admitted he'd only taken to hanging out with her at first because she knew Tuli. He of course took pains to stress how that was then, and how he'd come to appreciate Mizuri since, and that he'd tell Shenzi just what she could do with that deal of hers.

Kuzinga didn't know what reaction to expect from Mizuri - he hadn't given his confession any thought beyond that he felt like he needed to give one. Would she tell him that it was all right, and give him a kiss goodnight? Or explode at him and curse his lying bones?

In the end, she did neither. She just got up. "It's getting late, I should go see how Nyeusi is doing." She hopped from the rock, and started walking back towards the Elephant Graveyard.

"Mizuri..."

She stopped to look back, without looking directly at Kuzinga. "You're right, you should go see Shenzi."

There were no goodbyes. Kuzinga was left staring at his paws for a while as dusk turned into night, until he got up and set off for the clan's main den.

* * *

When the hyenas moved onto the Pridelands, one of their first concerns had been finding a good site for a new den. Though most of them had never known anything but the Elephant Graveyard for a home, it was loved by exactly no-one. While some had entertained vague notions of moving into Priderock, one look at the lionesses had been enough to dissuade them of that notion. In the end, they'd opted for a rather dissimilar abode: not too far from Priderock, in the direction of the Elephant Graveyard, they'd found a low hill with a hollow slope, and nestled within was a modest complex of rocks, caves and tunnels, none of it rising above the top of the hill. Whilst the lion den rose out of and above the land, the hyenas' lay hidden within.

The contrast was quite intentional, and a nod towards the concerns of some of the hyenas: we don't want to be like the lions, or a pale imitation - we want to be our own people, liking what we like, and doing things our way. Beyond that, it'd been an eminently practical choice: one of the few dens big enough to house large numbers of hyenas, though only a fraction of the clan would be present at any one time, and the many tunnels were perfect for the cubs to hide and play. Also, the complex had a small natural forum, a plus for any quarrelsome clan. Lastly, being close to the Elephant Graveyard would make things easier should they even need to leave in a hurry.

Though it was now fully dark, Kuzinga could see the rock formations from afar, reflecting the pale light of a waning moon. It was a cool and clear night, perfect for watching the stars. As he approached the den, he started hearing the characteristic chatter, whoops and giggles. You would always find at least a handful of hyenas at the den, though seldom the same folks two nights in a row. Nearer still, he was approached by someone keeping watch. Though few hyenas could sleep easier than those in the Pridelands now that they were at peace with the lions, they'd usually have someone stand guard anyway.

"Hey, man, who's that?"

"It's Kuzinga, I'm here looking for Shenzi."

"All right, Kuz'! It's been forever, man, whatcha been up to?"

Kuzinga finally recognized the other hyena, and he did not appreciate the warm welcome he received from Banzai. The last time they'd truly spoken had been when Shenzi and he threatened Kuzinga into becoming her stooge. He'd avoided Banzai since, still resentful of the role he played in that affair. He wasn't about to pretend they were friends now.

"None of your business. Where's Shenzi?"

"Man, what's up with you, lion took your dinner or something?"

"Get bent. Last time we met, you and that dopey friend of yours were threatening me, you think I've forgotten?"

"What? I don't remember any 'o that, it must've been like, a year ago, or something."

"It hasn't been a year, and you obviously remember, 'cause you still know my name," Kuzinga snarled, "Now where the hell is Shenzi?"

"Sheesh, whatever, a year ago, less than a year ago, who cares... lighten up, man. Anyway, Shenzi ain't around, she's out hunting. Pretty sure she'll be back in the morning, though..."

"Aw, great," Kuzinga sighed, "Now I get to spend the rest of the night fretting about what I've done..."

"Hey, I ain't got anything to do neither, you can hang out with me!"

Any other night, and Kuzinga might have given Banzai a second chance, or a third, or a fourth. But coming on the heels of an objectively terrible day, not so much. He told the other hyena off, again, and muscled his way past, hoping to find something to do at the den.

The main part of the den was an expansive, low hall, mostly subterranean, with big flat rocks on top and a dirt floor. A wide hole opened up to the surface in front, and at the back and sides the big room connected to various other caves and tunnels, only some of which were big enough for adult hyenas. Presently, the clan's cubs were playing out in front of the main entrance, with a a gaggle of adults spread out about the rocks, variously sleeping, chatting, or arguing. Every now and then there'd be a fight to settle a point, but never anything serious.

Kuzinga was about to pass by the gathered cubs and youngsters to see if he didn't recognize anyone among the older hyenas, when he was stopped in his tracks at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name.

"Kuzinga! You useless twerp, don't pretend like you didn't see me!"

He turned around to the sight of a squat-nosed hyena with stiff, bristling manes barreling towards him. She flashed her fangs at him in a mischievous grin.

"Hasira. It's been a while - not nearly long enough."

"That's no way to talk to your betters," she growled, "Head down, eyes at the ground!"

Though she wasn't yet fully grown, Hasira was already taller than Kuzinga, and she never hesitated to throw her weight around, now aggressively posturing herself in front of him. And he dutifully obliged, doing as he was told and bowing his head.

Hasira, along with Nyeusi, was part of Mizuri's clique - or rather, they were part of Hasira's. Kuzinga had gotten acquainted with the three of them in the process of trying to befriend Tuli, and he and Hasira had taken an immediate half-playful, half-serious dislike to one another. It was all down to how Hasira carried herself - unlike Mizuri, she insisted on pulling rank everywhere she went, not just when things got serious, and she couldn't go two sentences without bossing someone around. As was her right, being the only daughter to the second hyena in the clan.

"That's better - I'll make a proper gentleman out of you yet. You've got to learn the right way to talk to a lady."

"What, you mean groveling in the dirt?" Kuzinga hissed, looking up out of one eye. Hasira grinned back at him.

"That's right, you've go to know your place: you're all the way down there, and I'm up here. Simple!"

"That's stupid, nobody likes a groveler - I mean, maybe you do, but that's because you're a petty little tyrant. _Real_ ladies don't."

" _You're_ stupid! And what do you know anyway, you're just a boy. My mom says the most important thing is that everyone knows their place, and that everyone should be put in their place, especially the likes of you..."

"Huh, that solves the mystery of where you got your wonderful personality, then," Kuzinga sneered, "Can I get up now? My neck's starting to hurt."

"Yeah, whatever," Hasira motioned airily, "That's enough education for one day. Now tell, how'd it go today?"

"Terrible, to be honest..."

"Whadaya mean, terrible? Didn't she like the Elephant Graveyard, then? Is that were you got those fresh scars?"

"Huh, what?" Talking to Hasira, Kuzinga's mind had wandered to his falling-out with Mizuri.

"I mean, sure, it's not Priderock, but the ol' boneyard has its charms! Certainly not so bad she'd have to beat you up over it. Did you show Tuli the hot-spings at least? Everybody likes those!"

"Sorry, I thought you meant... No, it actually went great, that."

Right, she's asking about showing Tuli around the Elephant Graveyard, Kuzinga realized. Hasira hadn't been able to join them, for some reason - Kuzinga hadn't inquired further, being perfectly content with her absence.

 _So that's why she's bugging me._

He went on to tell her about the tour of the Graveyard, how Tuli had brought along Winda, how she'd turned out to be a perfectly nice lioness, and how everyone really enjoyed themselves - good times all around. He took pains to stress just how much fun it had been, stopping just short of adding "too bad you couldn't be there." He relished the thought of seeing the pain of missing out all over Hasira's face.

Until he actually saw it.

"Oh..." she responded quietly, "Sounds like you had a wonderful time, then..."

"We sure did."

No response. This should have been the point in the conversation where she snapped at him for being a smug little jerk.

"Hasira?"

"I wish I could have met Winda, she sounded like such a nice lady," she mumbled.

"I'm sure she'll show up next time we meet up, you can get acquainted then."

 _What's this, I'm trying to cheer her up now?_

"Kuz', did Tuli ask about me?"

"Huh? Sure, I guess. I think she asked why you weren't there - I suppose she's used to seeing you, Nyeusi and Mizuri together. Why, what's ..."

"It doesn't matter," she suddenly growled, "None of your business anyway. Enough talk, you wanna fight me?"

"W-what?"

"Fight me! I've been cooped up with these cubs all day, and you're about the right size - big enough for a challenge, but weak enough so I'm sure I can win."

"Yeah, okay," Kuzinga scoffed - Hasira was back to her old form then, "Thanks, but no thanks. I mean, you talk big, and I'd love to show you up, but I've had enough fighting for one day. You saw the scars, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah. What's up with that then?"

Having nothing much better to do for the night, Kunzinga gave Hasira the quick run-down of his fight with Mbili's gang. She seemed to really be into that kind of battle-tale, because she kept on asking for the most minute details, few of which Kuzinga could recall. And when he told her of how Mizuri stepped in at the end, she burst out laughing.

"That's just perfect, I love it! The fair maiden stepping in at the last moment to save your hapless butt from the mean old brute. It adds a dash of romance, ya know?" she snickered.

"Not funny."

"Awww, come on, don't tell me you didn't know. I mean, sure, it's ridiculous, you don't have to tell me! But for some unfathomable reason, Mizu likes your ugly face. And between you and me, you could do a lot worse, and she a lot better. If she still hasn't tired of you this time next year, count your lucky stars!"

"Don't worry, no chance of that happening now," Kuzinga grumbled.

"What's that?"

"Nothing..."

"Oh, no, no, no! You're not getting away that easy - don't think I didn't hear," she grinned, "I do love me a good lovers' quarrel, especially if it involves _your_ hurt feelings. And besides, I have to know if you did anything to hurt Mizu, so I can kill you if you did. Come on, out with it, what happened?"

"Well I'm not telling you now, you just said you'd kill me..."

"I was only joking," Hasira frowned, "But now I'm thinking you did something serious, and I'll actually have to kick your ass. Better start talking."

"I... I told her about something I did, something Shenzi made me do... and now... I dunno, she just left when I told her. I guess she's angry with me. Like not angry-angry, but..." Kuzinga's voice trailed off with a sigh.

"Huh. Well that doesn't sound very angry. I mean, if I was angry with you, you'd know. I guess I'd better ask Mizu. But that's that then? I mean, now that she's done with you, there's no reason for you to be around me at all anymore... so this is the last I'm seeing of you? That's fine, good riddance."

That's what Kuzinga figured too - Mizuri hated him now, and that was the end of that. Just deserts for going along with Shenzi's little scheme. But to see Hasira gloating over it really drove the point home. Was that really it? No more friends with Mizuri, no more hanging around with the lions - done and over, all of it? All of his trouble had started because he couldn't stand the thought of being dishonest with his newfound friends. And now he was just going to let them drop him?

 _Fat chance._

If only so he wouldn't have to give Hasira the satisfaction of seeing him gone.

"You wish!" Kuzinga growled, "I'll make it up to her, you'll see. Don't think you'll be rid of me this easily."

"Well I'll be damned, seems like you have some spine in you after all. So how'd you plan to do that?"

"... I dunno..." That was all it took to make Kuzinga's spirits sink again. He still hadn't thought beyond telling Shenzi off.

"I figured as much," Hasira smirked, "Just don't think I'll be helping you out in any way..."

"I know you won't."

"... that said, I might know someone who could."

* * *

Kuzinga followed Hasira down through the entrance into the den. It was almost totally dark inside, save for beams of moonlight falling in through crevices in the low rock-ceiling. Outlines of mothers suckling the really young cubs were visible near the sides of the cave. It all felt very cramped to Kuzinga, and he'd rather be outside again.

"He's probably in one of the tunnels near the back, that's where he usually hides," Hasira mumbled. Kuzinga followed her to where the room started to narrow until floor and ceiling converged. Dark openings of irregular size loomed ahead - tunnels running further back into the hill, or to the surface.

"I can't see him anywhere... NOKI! Noki, are you there?" she shouted out. Some of the nursing mothers sushed her, but she snarled at them to mind their own business. Then, from one of the dark holes, a faint, youthfully high-pitched voice could be heard.

"H-hello?"

"There you are, you useless little runt. Come out of there, we need to talk."

"Y-yes ma'am!"

A small, big-eared head appeared out off one of the tunnels, seemingly all black except for two big eyes that reflected what little light there was in the cave. As soon as the cub was all the way out, he bowed before Hasira.

"There, see that, Kuz'? Now that's a boy who knows how to behave."

Kuzinga grunted something inaudible. As if prompted, the cub looked up at him, his eyes wide open. Kuzinga tried to smile, but all he did was flash a grin, and the cub cowered back a bit.

"So you've noticed Kuzinga - good," Hasira commented when she saw, "Kuzinga, this little mutt here is called Noki. He's Mizuri's younger brother. Noki, that useless sack of bones there is Kuzinga. He's a friend of your sister's - or he used to be anyway. Because you can't seem to get along with the other cubs, I've asked dear Kuz' here to keep you company for a while. Set a good example, teach you a thing or two, role model... all that jazz."

"Eh... Hi, kiddo." Kuzinga hadn't deemed it possible, but the cub's eyes seemed to grow even bigger.

"Yeah, you'll get along just fine. I'll leave you two to get acquainted, and I'll go back to minding the rest of these little monsters - it's what I was supposed to be doing before you showed up and pulled me away." Without so much as a goodbye, Hasira took off, leaving the two others staring awkwardly at one another.

"You know, she's the one that came at me. I'd have been fine just leaving her alone."

Noki just kept staring up at him.

"So... Noki, that's your name right? Just nod, if you don't wanna talk." Nod. "Okay, glad we sorted that out. I'm Kuzinga, Kuz' for short..."

Kuzinga looked around uncomfortably. He didn't much like the feeling of being underground, and the other hyenas in there were giving him the same evil-eyes they'd given Hasira earlier - angry lights twinkling in the darkness.

"Noki, you wouldn't mind if we went someplace else? Like outside?"

The cub eyed the exit warily. "C-can't we just stay in here? I think this is nice."

Of course he'd say that. In here is where he could hide, out there is where the other cubs were. All the same, Kuzinga felt little for staying cooped up inside. He took another good look at the cub. He still looked pretty young, probably hadn't been much further than directly outside the cave.

"You know, Noki, going outside doesn't have to mean we'll be near the other cubs or anything - there's plenty of other places than just outside the den. How 'bout we go have a look at the top of the hill?"

"Why, what's up there?"

"Fresh air. A nice view, during the day. Right now I reckon it'd be a really good place for stargazing."

Noki still didn't seem very convinced. All the same, Kuzinga was done convincing.

"Huh, that's weird..."

"What?"

"That thing, over there..."

While Noki had his head turned, Kuzinga quickly grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and marched him out of the den. There were a few yelps and some struggling at first, but that subsides as soon as they'd passed by the rest of the cubs and moved further up the hill, away from the den. When the terrain leveled off, Kuzinga halted in a small clearing and put Noki back on the ground.

"There! Isn't this better?"

The cub looked around warily, and finally settled on staring at the ground in front of him. He seemed to be shivering.

 _Not used to much, that one._

"Hey, little man, it's all right," Kuzinga said, awkwardly ruffling the fur on Noki's head, "Sorry for tricking you earlier, but I just really don't like being inside..."

"You could have just left me. Why did you have to bring me?"

"Because I promised Hasira I'd keep you company."

"I don't like Hasira," Noki mumbled after a brief silence, "She's always mean to me, and I could tell she was mean to you, too. Why would you promise her anything?"

"She is pretty mean," Kuzinga agreed, "But she I don't think she means bad. She thought I could maybe help you, and you could maybe help me."

"Did she ask you to help me toughen up?"

Kuzinga was taken aback. "Actually... yeah, those were her exact words. How'd you guess?"

"They've done it before. They get someone to shout at me, fight me, and hurt me, and then I have to hurt them back. But I don't want to, and then everyone gets mad, and leaves... I'm too much of a wuss."

"Well I wouldn't know, I've only just met you." Kuzinga wasn't in the mood for indulging in drama. "We'll just skip over the toughing you up-part, then. Besides, I've already had my share of fighting today."

Noki threw a furtive glance at Kuzinga, his eyes lingering on the most obvious scars. Kuzinga caught him looking.

"Now _those_ I got way before today, when I was between clans. This one here is new, though." He held out one of is forepaws. It had a noticeable gash in it, mostly scabbed over by now. Noki drew back with a horrified expression.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really. Itches like crazy, though. And I can't touch it, or it'll just get worse."

"Yeah, that's what my mom always tells me, too," Noki giggled. Finally, some levity. "What happened?"

Happy to have finally gotten the kid to open up a bit, Kuzinga explained for the second time that day how he'd gotten in a fight with Mbili, though this time with much less detail; Hasira had salivated over every gnaw and scratch, but Noki in stead just winced when things got graphic. He did cheer when he heard about Mizuri.

"Haha, Mizu saved you! I love my sis, I wish I could be more like her... Do you like my sister, mister Kuzinga?"

"Huh? Sure I do, she's a great gal..."

"She is! She's even friends with a lioness, you know."

"Oh yeah, I knew that. The lioness' name is Tuli, I know her too."

Noki's eyes went wide again, and he stared up at Kuzinga in awe. "Wow, that's so cool! Both of you have lion friends! Everybody else thinks they're scary, but I know they're really cool; my sis told me so. I wish I could meet a real lion..."

"Oh, that's easy, we'll just introduce you to Tuli, or Winda - she's another lioness. They're both really nice ladies, so that shouldn't be an issue."

"Really? Could you really do that, take me to see a lion?"

"Eh... sure, I think. I'd have to ask your mom first, though. And Mizuri, and Tuli... Come to think of it, that's more a thing you and your sister should do, you know. Have you tried asking her yet?"

"I have," Noki answered, disappointed, "She told me no, and said I would just annoy the lions..."

"That's total bull," Kuzinga scoffed, "Lions or not, Tuli and Winda are still girls, you know? I bet they could just eat you - I mean, figuratively, figuratively! That's how girls are: they like small and cuddly things. They'll think you're really cute, and that'll be that."

"Do you think I'm cuddly?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing... Maybe you can convince my sis? Then all three of us can go!"

"Yeah, sure, that'd be nice." _Not likely, though, not now._ "Don't get too excited, it was just an idea. And it's not happening today, at any length..." Kuzinga yawned, "So, now that we've decided to just skip the whole toughen you up-business, is there anything you wanna do?"

"I dunno..."

"Hmmm... I get the feeling you spend a lot of your time in the den. How about some stargazing? Can't do that when you're inside. Here, just do like me..."

Kuzinga plopped down and turned over on his back, leaving his paws hanging limp above him. It must've looked comical somehow, because he could see Noki snickering upside-down. The cub eventually followed his lead, and lay down opposite Kuzinga. When they both stretched their heads back, their noses almost touched.

They lay gazing up in awed silence. After a little while, Kuzinga started to point out the various shapes and signs in the stars. He mostly just repeated what he remembered others telling him at various times, and the little stories that went with the signs. Most of those stories didn't make a whole lot of sense, as Noki pointed out when he could. Probably because Kuzinga remembered them wrong.

"What are they, anyway? The stars, I mean," Noki asked, eventually, "My mom says they're animals' spirits - but then why don't they ever do anything, they just hang there... That's not like animals at all."

"I don't know. Back in my birth-clan, they told me they're like holes in a big ceiling above."

"Does the ceiling come off during the day?"

"Don't know, maybe. Or it could just be spirits... or something else."

"You know who probably knows? Birds. I mean, the starts are above us, right? And the birds can fly above us, too. So they must be a lot closer, and get a better view," Noki reasoned, "We should ask them. Can birds talk?"

"Some of them, sure. I know vultures can, I've talked to them a few times. They're all strange, though, and hard to understand. I don't know if you could get a straight answer out of them."

"Why are they strange?"

"I think it's because of how they eat. They're not like us, they can't hunt. They have to wait for something to die before they can eat it. So they spend most of their time with animals who are dieing, looking at them, and even talking to them - after a while, I think that makes them go a bit crazy..."

The conversation meandered from there, with Kuzinga talking about what little he knew of other animals, and about his time alone, between clans, how he got his biggest scars... Noki listened attentively, always questioning, and wanting to know more than what Kuzinga could tell him.

Kuzinga dozed off at some point, and when he woke up a bit later, he found Noki nestled against him, fast asleep. He picked the cub up as softly as he could, so he could bring him back to the den - it wasn't safe to have him sleep outside if there was no-one awake to watch him. Getting back to the nest, he found Hasira standing guard at the entrance. She gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything, and took Noki back inside.

Kuzinga, for his part, nestled himself beside a couple of trees not too far from the entrance of the den, and fell asleep thinking of what a strange day it had been.


	12. Hyena politics

**preface: shout-out to Anon for the kind review. I have a rant on OC's at the bottom just for you!  
**

* * *

 **Hyena politics**

Kuzinga woke up to a great clamor. Judging by the sun, it must've been a bit before noon. All around him was a great bustle of hyenas coming and going, and little groups forming and dissolving. He heard the echoes of a few clanmates play-fighting, and fragments or a raunchy conversation.

It was strange to see everything so crowded all of a sudden - the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was seeing the surroundings of the den nearly deserted, in the dead of night. He'd been so tired he'd simply slept through the noise others made upon arriving or waking up. He yawned the last of his sleep away, and started walking around to see if he could recognize anyone of note.

It wasn't long before he came across Nyeusi. Not exactly someone he relished seeing right then - chances were Mizuri had already had a talk with her about Kuzinga's ill-conceived confession the day before. Then he noticed someone he wanted even less to do with that morning, sitting right next to Nyeusi: an older, heavy hyena with a pale coat, stiff copper-colored manes, and a surly air about her. He would have slunk away, if not for the fact that both of them suddenly noticed, then approached him.

Running away would have been really bad form, yet he gave it serious consideration.

The older hyena addressed him first: "I suppose you're that Kuzinga-fellow I've been hearing so much about."

"Yes, ma'am." He bowed down politely, trying his best to act as formal and oblivious as possible. She wasn't impressed.

"Don't get cute with me." She squinted, seeming to carefully study him for a while, "I guess it could be worse; a bit plain, but you do look like you could stand your own in a fight. Guess my daughter has better taste in guys than I did..."

Kuzinga breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like nobody had told old Nene that her daughter Mizuri had had a falling out with him - yet. He cast a quick sideways glance at Nyeusi, who looked back a bit icier than usual. So Mizuri had probably told her... but maybe asked her to keep it a secret? Nothing to be done about that now...

"You're an awfully silent one, though - lions' got your tongue?" Nene's gruff voice pulled Kuzinga out of his rumination.

"Eh, no, ma'am. I just don't want to say anything wrong, 's all."

 _Done plenty of that yesterday._

"Smart move. You're not scared of me, are you?"

"A little bit, to be honest, yeah."

"That's probably about the right amount," she grinned. Kuzinga didn't dare smile along, "I'd stick around and scare you a bit more, but there's a Meet going down at high noon, and I being the big deal that I am, have to attend."

So that's why it's so crowded, Kuzinga realized, there was going to be a Meet. All the high-ranking females would formally get together to bitch and moan to the matriarch, and one another, about whatever struck their fancy that day. A public airing of grievances. To be sure, they didn't need a special occasion for that - half the conversations on any given day were of that nature - but at a Meet, it all happened in plain view of everyone of significance. Gave it a more formal cachet.

Nene didn't seem to think much of it.

"Of course I don't enjoy it, but I don't think I can afford _not_ to attend today; Kato has been in a foul mood for a while, and I'll probably have to get between her and Shenzi to stop them from ripping into one another - but why am I telling you this? You're a guy, you probably don't understand half of it..."

Kuzinga nodded agreeably.

"Anyway, I wanted to have a word so I could give you a little pat on the back - Hasira told me you agreed to look after my son Noki, to see if you can make something out of him yet..."

Although he was pleasantly surprised by how Hasira had ingratiated him with Nene, Kuzinga felt like she might have oversold his offer a bit.

"... and if you get down to it, Mizuri's got the same problem, really. The both of them, they're just too _nice_ \- you can't be everyone's friend, and every once in a while, you really need to go for the throat. Now, my Mizu, she carries it fairly well, and if she plays it smart, she can have her friends look out for her - you know, have punks like you do the dirty work behind her back. No offense, of course, you seem like an upstanding fellow, helping my Noki and all, but you do look rough around the edges. You been in any fights recently?"

 _Didn't she have somewhere to be?_

"... but it's not that easy for my little Noki - at some point, he'll be out on his own, looking for a new clan, and he has to be able to stand up for himself, not shy away whenever someone looks at him funny. They both take too much after their father, he was a dreamer too - what can I say, I loved the guy. Good thing Mizu's tastes are more conventional - though you shouldn't get your hopes up yet, she's still a bit young after all..."

To Kuzinga's great relief, Nene's ramblings eventually abated, and she hurried off to the Meet. Kuzinga was left behind with Nyeusi.

"So Mizuri has her father's temperament, huh? Two guesses where she got her mouth..."

He only realized how bad it sounded once it was out. Not that it was some great insult, but all the same - why on earth would he be making jokes at Mizuri's expense, to her friend no less - a friend who most likely hated his guts? He'd spoken without thinking again.

Then, the weirdest thing: Nyeusi started giggling, though she was obviously trying not too.

It wasn't even a good joke.

"I shouldn't have laughed," she said once she'd regained her composure, "And you're still a jerk. Come on, let's go have a look at the Meet."

"Say, Nyeusi, you don't happen to know where Mizuri..."

"She's not here. It's none of your business anyway."

* * *

One of the reasons the hyenas had picked this particular place for a den, was that part of the surrounding rock-formation created the perfect forum for a Meet. Irregularly stacked rocks lined the inside of an indentation in the hill, with a flat floor at the bottom, so the sides could accommodate about two or three rows of hyenas looking over one another down at the floor, or at the other rows. The Elephant Graveyard had offered many locations like that, but this was the closest fit they could find in the Pridelands.

By the time Nyeusi and Kuzinga got there, they could see about a dozen big and fierce hyenas occupying the rocks, with many more looking on from the sides or the bottom. Only those hyenas sitting on the rocks would have a say in the Meet, though - they were all the matrons of the clan, representing their younger descendents and relatives. Kuzinga recognized Nene, and in the middle of the bottom row, Shenzi. He thought she looked lost without her two hangers-on.

Normally, there'd be a lot of shouting to and fro, a chaotic affair with a lot of sound, resolving nothing. Not today though. Unbeknownst to Nyeusi, Kuzinga, and pretty much all hyenas of lesser stature, it turned out to be a bit of an extraordinary Meet - one subject, one speaker. Such an arrangement didn't come natural to hyenas; it had to have been fixed in advance. A large number of the clan elders shared a concern, and they'd use the Meet to lay it at the paws of their Matriarch in dramatic fashion.

And Shenzi knew it - that's why she was anxious, not because she had to go without Ed and Banzai for a bit.

Unannounced, Shenzi suddenly got up and addressed the gathered crowd - that was the beginning of the Meet. Hyenas aren't much for formalities.

"Allright, you're all here now, so let's hear it. Anyone got anything they want to say?"

The chatter all around fell away, and silence hung thickly over everyone. Shenzi gnashed her teeth in anticipation. Then, the hyena to her left got up. She was the striking image of Hasira, only bigger- same bristly brown manes and dark, squat snout. The only thing to mar the comparison was a hideous scar - deep clawmarks going right across her right eye, white and dead.

Kato, Hasira's mother, and second in command of the clan after Shenzi, her niece. If Nene scared Kuzinga, Kato absolutely terrified him.

"Maybe, before we begin, a few words for someone who can't be here today..." Her tone was as severe as her look.

To Kuzinga's, and pretty much everyone's surprise, she asked that all gathered would spare a moment to think of Toka, Nyeusi's mother, who had been banished from the Pridelands for disrupting Scar's formal coronation ceremony. After his little run-in with Mbili earlier, she'd of course been fresh on Kuzinga's mind, but he suspected the same did not hold true for many of the others. Kato carried on.

"Strange, I still haven't gotten used to it. Banished by the lion Scar, our - King." She almost spat the word. "That's how it is now, we have a king. For those of you who are confused - when it comes to deciding on matters of life or death, on where we can and cannot go, what we can and cannot do, it is not us that have the final say, or our Matriarch. It's the king who gets the final say. A boy king, a _lion_ king..."

It went on like that, a well construed rant on the outrage of having a lion rule over them hyenas, the injustices they'd suffered at the lions' paws in the past - Kato took pains to note how she'd lost an eye to them - and how noble their own customs and ancestors were in comparison to those feline brutes.

Kuzinga wasn't stirred, and he could tell Nyeusi was less than thrilled at having her mom used as a prop to liven up the speech. But others would be of a mind with Kato - hyenas like her who were too proud to suffer the thought of a lion above them, or who felt wronged in some way or another, like Mbili.

Kato stopped short of demanding they do away with the lions entirely and take the Pridelands for themselves, but only just barely. Likewise for doing away with the Matriarch that had subordinated them to the lions. If Mizuri had been with Kuzinga, she could have told him this was what's called a naked power-play: "I should be the Matriarch, not Shenzi - she's just a lion's paw."

Nene suddenly interrupted Kato's ramblings, sneering: "Kato, girlfriend, what a stirring speech - you obviously worked very hard at it... If I could just get a little word in?"

"I don't know, can you?" Kato retorted, obviously annoyed at the interruption, "We all know, if Nene puts in a little word, we might all be here 'till sundown."

That got her some laughs, but Nene shrugged it of: "I promise it won't take long. I just wanted to say it's strange to hear you go on about "lions this" and "lions that," giving darling Shenzi such a tough time of it for keeping in touch with Scar, while your own daughter Hasira has made a lion-friend of her own... I would know, my own Mizu is friends with her too, as is Toka's daughter Nyeusi..."

Nene's "little word" hit home. How could it not: here was Kato decrying the lions and the injustices they'd inflicted upon Toka... while both their daughters were making friends with those same diabolical lions? Hard to take her arguments seriously knowing that. The revelation was greeted with either laughter or indignation, all at Kato's expense. It left her fuming. As soon as things died down again, she made a reply through gritted teeth.

"My daughter has nothing to do with lions - I have forbidden it..."

"Before or after you decided on that little rant?" Shenzi suddenly quipped, "Good thing you _forbade_ her, too, or you would have come across as a big hypocrite... or you know, a bigger one anyway."

She gave Nene a quick smile, now confident she had little to fear from Kato.

"I'll put in a word too - a little one, 'cause I can tell you're all growing bored... can't blame ya, Kato has that effect on a hyena. It's actually a question: is anyone hungry?"

That stumped the crowd. What was she on about? Kato took the bait.

"This is ridiculous, I want to talk about serious issues, life or death - and all you think about is stuffing your face? Can't you think about anything else for one second?"

"I admit it, I have a problem - food is always on my mind. I have a great need for it, can't go without it, I would literally die! Then again, so would you. All of us in fact. No risk of that now, though: I'm not hungry at all, I've got plenty to eat - in fact, I went hunting last night - zebra, my favorite! Still feel a bit stuffed.

"All your talk about how glorious things used to be, with no lion king above us, but you forget to mention one thing: going to sleep hungry. Because that was the choice: accept Scar as our king, or go hungry. For me, that's not even a choice. Think about that whenever your pride is a-hurting again...

"That goes for all of you. So you don't like the lions, fine. I know, they're a smelly, pushy bunch. Ugly, too. But you better pray you never have to fight one. And thanks to me, you'll never have to – you have peace, and you'll never go hungry again.

"All right, that's all, Meet over, now scram."

* * *

"Next time you want to challenge me, just come at me, so I can rip out that silver tongue of yours," Shenzi growled. Kato took it in stride.

"Better we settle it at the Meet than fight over every little thing..."

"Little, I'm so sick of that word! And it wasn't a _little_ thing, you challenged me, in front of the clan! Good thing Nene took you down, so I didn't have to."

"Other hyenas came to me first. Everyone thinks it, I'm just the first to say it. Better that you know it's out there, Shenzi. The clan is worried, and I can't blame them – this isn't who we are! Ruled over by a lion king, what a travesty... only a fool would trust the lions..."

"Whatever, long as everyone's fat and happy, they'll deal. And as for you: if you pull a stunt like this again, I'll have your neck."

True to form, as a good subordinate should, Kato bowed her head before leaving the Meeting-place. On the way out, she passed by Nyeusi and Kuzinga, both of whom were quick to grovel before her. Kato had a tendency to viciously attack anyone who didn't know their place. They waited until she was out of earshot.

"So this is what it was all about, huh?" Nyeusi commented wrily. It took Kuzinga a moment to realize she was talking about him, and not about the Meet. So she knew he was there to tell Shenzi off - Mizuri did tell her, then.

"Yeah..."

Nyeusi didn't speak, but just motioned towards Shenzi, as a way of urging him to get on with it. Then she turned to leave.

"Hey, Nyeusi, wait - see you later?"

Without looking back, she shrugged: "Maybe."

Now Kuzinga was left alone with Shenzi, who still sat in the middle of the now deserted meeting place. She was lying down, eyes closed, with her nose buried in her forepaws. It was hard to tell what she was doing. She didn't seem to have noticed him. He hesitated to approach her.

"M-ma'am?" he stuttered, "Shenzi?"

"Yeah, who is it?" Her voice broke at the end, and she sniffed.

"I-it's Kuzinga..."

"Who?" Shenzi looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy. "Oh, it's you. I've seen you before, I think. Sorry if I can't quite recall how or when, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, if you can't tell."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Kuzinga swallowed, "I should go..."

"No, it's all right, stay... You pretty much ruined the moment already. That's the thing with you guys, you're all idiots when it comes to these things. Did you see the Meet?"

"I did. You were good, I mean, you had a good point..."

"Just _good_?" Shenzi smiled weakly, "Dang, you sure know how to make a lady feel better about herself." She gave him another glance. "But at least you're nice to look at."

"No, I mean, you were right, and Kato was wrong - isn't that what matters?"

"Usually not, no." Shenzi frowned, and righted herself, "Now, what are you here for? It'd better not be to cheer me up, 'cause you're doing a lousy job at it."

"Eh, that's not it, no. I mean, if I'd known you... then I, eh..."

"Adorable. I'll give you another chance: what are you here for?"

"Spy. You asked me to spy on the lions, some time ago. Less than a year, I think. And... I ... I don't want to anymore. So I won't... And, you know, sorry about that, I guess."

Shenzi looked at him incredulously. After a while, she pouted her lips: "Sure, if you say so."

"You look like you don't you remember."

"I don't. I'm the matriarch, honey, I ask others to do things for me all the time - you can't expect me to remember all of it. I mean, you were at the Meet, weren't you? Did you _see_ what I have to contend with? And that's not even counting Scar!"

"Oh..."

"Don't feel bad - it's not you, it's me. So, a spy! Look at that. Find out anything juicy? Why decide to quit?"

"It... it didn't feel right to spy on my friends," Kuzinga stuttered, with a mounting sense of embarrassment.

"Wait... didn't you just say you had to spy on the lions? You have lion friends too?"

"I do. But it's also about the other hyenas who hang out with them... I didn't want to be dishonest about why I befriended them in first place..."

"Man, I used to feel special because I was friends with Scar, but now everyone seems to be hooking up with the lions. What a bummer. I don't suppose you found out anything I should know about?"

"I don't think so... And if I told you, that would mean I'd still be spying for you, so..."

"You're exaggerating," Shenzi interrupted, "I mean, friends talk about other friends all the time, don't they? If you told me about your lion friends, it would just be that – a friendly chat, nothing to do with spying."

"... maybe." Kuzinga wasn't convinced. "But nothing happened anyway, so it doesn't matter..."

"Really, nothing? Not one interesting tidbit, nothing extraordinary? Just something plain weird, maybe?"

"Well..." Kuzinga hesitated. Could he tell her about lions who weren't actually his friends? That probably wouldn't be wrong, he didn't owe them anything. "I guess there was one thing, before I got to know Tuli... or was it the same day? I dunno. I didn't know what to do, so I just followed this suspicious looking lioness around for a bit, one day. I think she was called Ziri, or something. She was all on her own, and she chased me for a bit, which had me thinking she was up to something. But all she did was go rock-climbing. That's about the weirdest thing I saw."

"Rock-climbing? That's kind of unusual I suppose. Lions can do all sorts of things with those big claws of theirs. How high up Priderock did she get?"

"No, it wasn't Priderock, it was the side of the Gorge. She made it all the way out, too. I didn't think she could, but..."

"The Gorge, huh?" Shenzi squinted knowingly, but carried on in a conversational tone, "Well, if that's the weirdest thing you saw, count yourself lucky. I was with Scar this one time, and..."

By the time their little chat wound down, Shenzi's mood seemed to have significantly improved, mostly at Kuzinga's expense, and they parted amicably. Strange. Kuzinga had expected things to go differently. He went in thinking Shenzi would be livid at him for backing out on their deal, shout at him, threaten him, attack him, kick him out of the clan even. Turned out she hardly even remembered his face, and couldn't care less about what he had to say.

Truly, he should have been relieved, safe in the knowledge that he was now a permanent member of a strong clan, living in abundance and peace. But he mostly just felt confused, and cheated, somehow. He'd gone through all that trouble of making a confession, and possibly alienated Mizuri and the lionesses, gotten in a fight, sat through a Meet, and been entrusted with the education of some pathetic little brat - all for no reason, it turned out. He didn't even get a cathartic moment out of it. Doing absolutely nothing would have yielded better results.

Try as he might, Kuzinga couldn't see the humor in it.

* * *

 **author's notes: so, on original characters in fanfiction... I suppose you should keep them to a minimum. Too many of your own things, and it stops being fanfiction, you know? Also, keep characters to a minimum in general, so if the role can be filled by a canon-character, or you can condense two OC into one, do it like that.**

 **… he said after two chapters with barely two canon-characters between them. So take that with a grain of salt. Looking at this story, I suppose if I really wanted to rigorously apply the above formula, I should replace Tuli with Sarafina, and condense Sarafina and Sarabi's roles into Sarabi... maybe replace Kuzinga with Banzai... I don't think I will now, though; I've growing too attached to the new cast already.**


	13. Lion gothic

**preface: with enduring gratitude to ograndebatata and Anon for the kind reviews and continued readership. My thoughts on this chapter below. For those of you who aren't reading this story in one go and can't immediately place this chapter: it's a continuation of Chapter 4 (Can't get out).**

* * *

 **Lion gothic**

Zira leapt through the bushes on the edge of the crater, landing between a sleeping Tuli and Kuti. They awoke with a start.

"Zira, what's ..." Tuli mumbled sleepily, before she was cut off by Zira.

"Tuli, Kuti, you need to wake up, now! There's hyenas, out there!"

As if on cue, the sounds of hyenas whooping and hollering could suddenly be heard beyond the crater walls. Zira moved over to Kuti, who seemed to have some trouble getting up. When she nudged her, the lioness produced an agonized groan.

"Kuti, please, you have to get up!" Zira cried out, turning to Tuli in desperation, "Tuli! She's not getting up, do something!"

Now Tuli was wide awake, too. She was breathing rapidly, and her eyes shot to and fro. With quivering voice, she uttered: "I... I don't..."

Lights appeared at the edge of the crater, moonlight reflected in dark, beady eyes. The hyenas had found them. When Zira saw, she started frantically shoving at Kuti, while Tuli still sat staring, paralyzed.

Eventually, the wounded lioness made to get up, only to collapse again immediately. This seemed to finally spur Tuli into action, and she positioned herself next to Kuti, opposite from Zira. With the other lionesses to support her on either side, Kuti was finally able to get up.

"Zira, what happened, where did they come from? How many are they?" Tuli asked. Her voice was still shaking, but at least she seemed to be thinking straight again.

"I don't know, it was dark and they were suddenly there... so many of them!"

"Ok. We can't let them surround us here - come on! We have to get out."

The trio shuffled towards the crater's edge, but they were brought to a dead-stop when a hyena blocked the way. Then Tuli suddenly jumped forward, claws outstretched. The hyena was only able to dodge her by a hair's breath, and it quickly scampered away into the darkness.

"Go on, stay with Kuti, I'll try and fend them off!" she shouted back at Zira, who nodded eagerly, and guided her wounded friend out of the crater. They went on for a bit, picking up pace, when Zira heard sounds of struggle behind her. She looked back just in time to see Tuli lunging a three hyenas facing her standing shoulder to shoulder. They drew back in the face of such a fierce attack, but unbeknownst to Tuli, a fourth hyena had circled around, and now came at her unseen.

"Tuli, behind you!" Zira screamed, hurrying back to help her.

The hyena snapped at the lioness' backpaw. If not for Tuli turning around when she heard Zira, the beast's jaws would have snapped shut 'round her joint, severing muscle and tendons, and crushing her bones. Even if she survived, she'd have likely lost the paw. Now, however, the hyena bit nothing but skin and flesh. Tuli screamed out in pain, and started tearing into the assailant to make it let go. The three other hyenas she'd been facing now made to attack again, but were stopped short by the arrival of Zira, who battered at their line until they fell back.

When Tuli tried to scramble away from her attacker, the hyena tore out a piece skin from her leg, and then hobbled out of reach of the lioness, until it was under the cover of its three henchmen. But the lionesses had given as good as they got: Tuli's claws were wet with blood, and Zira was sure she'd felt bones cracking when her blows had landed. There was no time to relish their small victory, however: noises of a struggle emanated from where Zira had left Kuti.

The two lionesses looked back to the sight of Kuti lying sprawled on the ground, a hyena digging its fangs into the paw of her wounded leg, while she put up a weak, desperate defense against two others menacing her front.

"No! You bastards, leave her alone!" Zira roared. In only a few leaps, with a speed that surprised everyone, not least of all the hyenas, she was on them. Before it could scamper away, Zira pounced on the hyena that had been gnawing at Kuti's paw. The beast collapsed under the lioness' weight, whining and yelping desperately, but to no avail. Zira bit down wherever she could while mercilessly beating at the hyena's chest, head and neck. When the other two that had been assailing Kuti tried to intervene, Tuli jumped in.

At some point, the hyena stopped crying, then it stopped moving. For a moment, Zira stood victoriously over the crumpled shape, mouth open, breathing heavily. Bloodlust was in her eyes. Then she looked over to Kuti.

The lioness still lay on the ground, whimpering, with Tuli at her side, licking her wounded paw. Zira bounded over, and positioned herself protectively above the prone lioness, nuzzling her gently under her chin.

"Kuti, it's all right, I'm here, I'm here with you. Oh, what have they done to you..."

She glanced back at Kuti's wounded paw, and at Tuli, who was tending it. She had the most dreadful look in here eyes.

"Zira, it's all the way down to the bone..."

Before she even had time to lament that ghastly news, Zira was reminded of the more immediate danger still facing them: by the light reflected in their eyes, she could recognize hyenas moving all around, circling them. They had caught up to the lionesses with their full strength, and were now closing in, working carefully in little groups of two or three. Zira struck out at the nearest pair, but they quickly drew back.

Tuli had gotten back up again in the meantime, and was similarly regarding the hyenas. Then she stepped forward, and shouted with cracking voice: "Why are you doing this? Just leave us alone! We were just passing through, we didn't want to hurt anyone!"

They gave no answer. Now that she had a moment to look at them more closely, however, Zira could venture a guess as to why the hyenas attacked them, based on the slobber running down heir chins, their famished, bony appearance, and the downright hungry looks they gave the lionesses. Tuli seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

"Zira, they won't stop until they've killed us all - we've got to get out of here!"

"No, I'm not going anywhere without Kuti!"

"Zira, she can't..."

"I know!" Zira cried, "I know! But I can't leave her, not like this. Tuli, you can still make it, if you go now..."

For a while, it seemed like panic would overcome Tuli, and she would indeed run for it by herself. But then she sighed, and a calm, grim determination came over her.

"No! I'm not going anywhere without you."

She took up position back to back with Zira, both of them shielding Kuti.

"Tuli, you don't have to..."

"But I do, Zira... I want to do this - for you."

"F-for me?" Zira stammered, momentarily dumbstruck. Where was this coming from? "Tuli, I... I'm sorry - I wish I could have got to know you better before this. I should have been a better friend while I still could."

Oblivious to the lionesses' conversation, the hyenas started to close in again. This time, with the full force of their superior numbers focused squarely on the trio of lionesses, there would be no backing out. They went in for the kill, falling on the lionesses, whooping and growling savagely. Every time Zira or Tuli struck or bit at one of them, that hyena would pull back, and others would attack in turn, a process they would keep up until they'd entirely worn down the lionesses, killing them one bite at a time.

Zira had just beaten back another one of these piecemeal attacks, incurring a nasty bite in the process, when the crowd of hyenas in front of her suddenly went into an uproar. They all rushed to the left and to the right of her, circling over to where Tuli was. Fearing the worst for her comrade, Zira spun around - only to find Tuli standing there no worse for the wear, her mouth agape.

Then she saw just what it was that had left Tuli awestruck, and had drawn away her assailants: three unknown lions were causing a carnage amid the scrum of hyenas, pouncing and swiping at them with vicious abandon. The hyenas that had been facing Zira now intervened, and they were able to blunt the onslaught somehowwhat, but their counterattack came to late for the one hyena caught between the jaws of the biggest of the newly arrived lions. One crushing blow to the neck was all it took to end that struggle.

Overcome by the surprise arrival of three new opponents, the rest of the hyenas broke and fled in a confused panic. The unknown lions attempted to give chase, but gave up before long and promptly returned. Zira realized that, hadn't it been for their intervention, neither she nor her friends would have made it out alive. Her first instinct, therefore, once over the shock of having survived at all, was gratitude.

"T-thank you! They were going to kill us all, if it hadn't been for you... you saved us!" she called out.

The tree unknown lions, upon returning from their abortive chase, had all gathered around the hyena they felled, bowing down and sniffing at it in a manner that seemed strange to Zira. They seemed oblivious to the presence of the other lionesses. Only when Zira addressed them, did they seem to notice her. They too were a trio: two lionesses and one lion. The lion approached cautiously. Zira had at first mistaken him for another lioness, on account that he had no manes, but when he came nearer his masculine build and muzzle became more obvious.

"You're lions then?" he asked in a cracked, rasping voice, "Didn't think there were any other lions left 'round these parts..."

"We're not from here," Zira admitted, "We're only passing through, hoping to make our way to somewhere not so affected by the drought. But then the hyenas attacked us..."

"Aye, they'll do that to unwary travelers such as yourselves..."

"Is it because we've strayed into their territory?"

"Territory? Ha!" The lion burst out in a strange, barking laugh. "Oh no, missus, there are no territories here. All these lands are dead, no use fighting over those anymore, now is there? No, here we only fight over what truly matters - meat."

He gave the lionesses a strangely intent look, unsettling Tuli. Zira, on the other hand, still felt nothing but gratitude.

"Regardless, I'm glad you showed up when you did - I don't think we could have lasted much longer against those horrid beasts otherwise."

"No, I don't reckon you would have," the lion smiled, "We, for our part, are always glad to serve a fellow lion in need, of course. Though, to be fair, I have to admit that our intervention was not entirely selfless... "

The lion seemed to suddenly notice Kuti: "Ah! But what is the matter with your friend, she seems most grievously hurt! Did we arrive too late perchance?"

That remark once again brought Kuti to the forefront of Zira's mind. In stead of answering the lion's questions, she bent down and nuzzled her friend, licking her nose. Kuti stirred, then weakly opened her eyes.

"Zira..." she murmured.

"Don't worry, I'm here for you. It'll be all right; we're safe now..."

Tuli carried on the conversation with the stranger: "We've had a troubled time getting here, and she was already hurt before we encountered the hyenas. Though I'm afraid they've made matters worse..."

"Oh, how dreadful..." The strange lion shook his head remorsefully, "It must be hard on her, traveling in that condition..."

"It..." Tuli hesitated, and her voice hardened. "It hasn't been easy, but we've managed so far."

"Until you ran into the hyenas..."

"Again, we can't thank you enough for saving us!" Zira broke in, "I'm not sure if we can ever repay you, but if there's anything we can do..."

The lion seemed to be weighing her words for a while, and then motioned towards Kuti: "You know, we might be able to help your friend there..."

"And how would that be, exactly?" Tuli immediately barked a reply. Zira was perplexed at that sudden hostile turn.

"Tuli! Sir, please, excuse my friend; we've been through a lot... Now, you've helped us out once already, and we don't want to impose..."

"Oh, but it would be scant trouble. We would only have to take her before Father Mauti - he is the elder of our pride... and has powerful magic. He can put an end to any affliction. All we'd have to do is leave your friend with him, for a little while..."

"Powerful magic?" Tuli repeated his words back at him, squinting suspiciously. The lion nodded placidly. "That's not an offer to be taken lightly... could you let me have a word with my friend first?"

"Of course!" the lion immediately agreed, "It pleases me to see you, so young a lioness, approach the issue with the appropriate reverence. The young do not always appreciate things powerful and ancient. I will be there, with my mates Kuooza and Chakaa, so you can talk frankly among yourselves. My name, by the way, is Oza."

"Thank you again, Oza," Tuli replied coolly, pointedly neglecting to tell him their own names. She turned back to Zira, who was by now resting her head on Kuti's chest. The wounded lioness had her eyes closed, and the expression on her face was disturbingly peaceful - Tuli was relieved when she saw Zira's head go softly up and down along with Kuti's breath. She waited for Oza to slink off, then addressed her friend.

"Zira... what do we do now?"

"I don't think Kuti can go on any more - at all. If they're offering to help, I don't think we can afford to turn them down. Besides, they already saved us once - why are you so suspicious all of a sudden?"

Tuli did not respond, except though a pained expression. She looked away. Zira touched a paw to her cheek.

"Tuli, you were ready to fight and die by my side just now. So why can't you just talk to me?"

The other lioness relaxed at Zira's touch, and smiled weakly. "Sorry, force of habit. It's just that... These lions, I think they look... strange, somehow. Don't you think so too? And now they speak of magic - it makes me uncomfortable."

Strange looking? Zira cast a quick glance over at their saviors. They were all sitting around the hyena carcass, staring at the lionesses. It was hard to make out their features from afar, in the darkness. All Zira could see was that they looked very thin, bony almost, and that Oza had no manes.

"I don't see anything. They look starved, but so do we. It makes sense - there's nothing to eat here..."

"It can't just be _nothing_ \- they seem to be surviving, somehow, so there must be something. But it's not just that they're thin - did you see the male's pelt? All scraggy, with bald and scabbed patches. He has no manes. And his eyes, all deep-set like that. Those lions don't look right."

"I don't think we look too hot either, at this point... small wonder we're even still alive; I can't even remember our last decent meal. At any length, I don't see any reason not to trust them, not after they just saved our lives. I say we take them up on their offer. If nothing else, we could at least rest for a little while; maybe that's all Kuti needs..."

Though she obviously still had her doubts, Tuli finally relented. She went and told Oza, who seemed positively thrilled to invite them over to his pride's den, where "Father Mauti" would be waiting. The two lionesses with him remained entirely unmoved, however.

Confusingly, he then proposed to depart as soon as they'd finished dinner.

"Dinner?" Tuli wondered aloud, shooting a questioning look at Oza. Did they seriously consider to go hunting before helping Kuti? That would take ages - Tuli was sure there weren't any prey-animals for at least a day's walk in any direction.

She then looked over to the lionesses Kuooza and Chakaa, just in time to see them tearing into the dead hyena before them, ripping out and feasting on the entrails. Oza took her look of disgust for one of impatience: "Don't worry, we won't be long - there isn't much meat on them these days. The one you guys killed is all yours, of course..."

Tuli backed away slowly at first, then dashed for her friends.

"Wow, Tuli, slow down - what's gotten into you?" Zira wondered when she saw, "And what are they doing over there?"

"The hyena - they're eating the hyena!"

Zira looked over for herself, and her skeptical expression soon turned to disgust. Not that either lioness held any great love for hyenas - it's just that they didn't see them as food. Enemies, competitors, and pests, sure. But not food. If pressed they'd find it hard to explain just why, only knowing that they were somehow both above and below being eaten. Even so, Zira expressed some sympathy for the other lions.

"Disgusting! But... these are their lands, of a sort, and they can follow their own customs here. Maybe they just don't look at hyenas the same way we do, that's their business. And it's not like there is any other food here to choose from besides..."

Tuli, however, was more vehement: "I don't care how hungry I am, I would never, ever do that. It's just... it's wrong!" She looked over at the still shape of the hyena Zira had felled, laying nearby. "I don't like this, Zira. We should just go, leave this terrible place behind."

"Go if you want, but I'm not leaving Kuti's side. She's in no state to travel anywhere, and I'd rather try my luck with these strange lions than see her collapse on the road. Because that's what waiting for us if we go."

"Dammit, you're right, I'm sorry," Tuli sighed, looking at Kuti, "I wasn't thinking straight, this whole thing is getting to me... Try to forget what I said. I'm with you, the both of you, no matter what happens."

When the other lions were done with the first hyena, and after asking permission from a visibly repelled Zira, they set their sights on the second one. They stripped the carcass of what little meat it held, while Zira and Tuli huddled around Kuti, not daring to look at the gruesome spectacle. The sounds of crunching and munching that reached them were plenty sickening without even having to look.

They finally finished up and set out to move at the break of dawn. Where the night had been intermittently cloudy, they were now greeted by what looked to be a clear and sunny day, unbearably bright. What had looked like vague shadows in the night was now put into stark light: dead trees and barren brush, scorched grass and sun-cracked earth as far as the eye could see. A country of dead flats amid roiling, desolate hills.

"We should get going now, if we want to beat the midday heat," Oza said, turning away from what remained of the hyena. His front was covered in blood and gore, and along with the dawn had come a great many flies which now buzzed and crawled about his snout. "Is your friend okay to walk?"

It took considerable effort to just raise Kuti from her slumber, and only by having Tuli and Zira support her was she able to stand upright and walk forward with an irregular, stumbling gait. She held her wounded paw upraised throughout. It was thick and festering where the hyena had bitten into it, while the old wound farther up was turning black under her fur, smelling foul. Kuti herself would start shivering now and then, even though the weather soon turned sweltering hot, with the barren trees providing no shade. What should have been a short walk proved to be a miserable experience that seemed to drag on forever.

But, at long last, they did come to the den of Oza's pride, sometime around noon. What had looked like just a discoloration from afar turned out to be an outcropping of rock from the base of a steep hill: a big, flat slab of dark-grey stone jutting out of the ground, with a wide dug-out beneath. Two huge, elongated boulders lay in front, one of them overturned. At the bottom of the shallow pit the stone slab suddenly split in two, opening into a narrow, dark crack. It was impossible to say what lay beyond from the outside, as everything beyond the fissure was pitch-black. The area seemed deserted, muck like the lands that surrounded it.

Zira gave no thought to the fact that the den looked like a gaping maw, with two fangs in front. She was just happy for the shade it offered.

"This place looks dead. Where are your other pridemates? In that cave beyond the pit, maybe?" Tuli asked Oza.

"There are no others, only Father Mauri. The cave runs very deep, and indeed, that is where he has his sanctuary..."

"Down there, huh? And you really think he can help our friend?"

"I know it."

"And there's no catch? Isn't that how it goes with magic?"

"Tuli, don't pry like that," Zira hissed, "They're just trying to help."

"I know, but it's just... You know the stories, don't you? Whenever someone tries to get something through magic, it goes very bad for them - they get their comeuppance, somehow, all ironic-like... I don't want Kuti to come back... unnatural."

"Tuli!"

"Oh, it's quite alright," Osa said soothingly, addressing both lionesses, "Your friend is right to be wary - you should be, when magic is involved. I know what stories you speak of - we have those too, and they never seem to end happily. But, beg your pardon missus, this ain't no story. This is real, and there will be no unnatural goings-on, no clever twist..."

Maybe it was the way he said it, but Tuli felt less than reassured. All the same, she didn't lodge any further protest, and prepared to walk Kuti into the cave along with Zira. They were stopped right before the entrance, though."

"Wait! You cannot go further. It is not permitted for outsiders to enter, and Father Mauri does not leave the sanctuary. We can make an exception for your friend because she is unwell, but you two will have to wait outside..."

"You didn't tell us about that before," Tuli grumbled, "What difference should it make if you are healthy or not before you enter the sanctuary?"

"Magic often works like that. Haven't you ever heard the story of the Rogue and the Monkey?"

* * *

There once was an old rogue without a pride. He would not be much longer for this world, because of a terrible growth around his eye, that threatened to make him blind.

Then one day out hunting, he caught a monkey, and before he was able to deliver the fatal bite, the creature cried out: "Wait, have mercy! Spare me, and I will reward you!"

He did not think much of the offer - what could a monkey possibly do for an old rogue? But even that little moment's hesitation was enough: the monkey laid his paw on the old rogue's head, and behold! he could see clearly again. The monkey had taken away the growth.

So he set the monkey free.

Not much later the old rogue came across a friend of his - another rogue, though this one young and hearty. The young rogue did have one regret: he never could grow a mane. (Naturally, I feel his pain). When he heard what had happened to the old rogue, he quickly hatched a scheme: if only he could catch the same monkey, he could ask for a fine set of manes to preen.

Many a monkey the young rogue did catch and kill, before finally happening upon the right mandrill.

"Have mercy!" the monkey again cried.

"That depends on what you can do for me," the young rogue replied, "Because I have heard from a friend of mine, about this growth of his you removed, see..."

"Say no more!" the monkey shouted out with glee, touching the young rogue's head, "There! I have put it on thee..."

* * *

Zira was still in the throes of laughter as the lionesses Kuooza and Chakaa led Kuti into the cave. Tuli just looked on with a surly expression. After a while, the two lionesses returned out of the cave without Kuti.

"Now, you wait. It might be a while, a day or more. You should try to get some sleep; it'll be too hot out to do anything else."

Osa and his lionesses settled themselves on one edge of the pit, and started cleaning off the blood that still clung to their snouts. Tuli sat down on the opposite side, making no secret of her mistrust. Zira lingered near Oza, and inquired about his pride and the lands they inhabited. He told her about how the territory had always been a bit arid, and prone to droughts.

"... yet it had never been this bad. We haven't seen any real rain for years now. Our pride had eight adults back then, but now it's down to us three, and Father Mauti. There are no cubs now - no way to feed them. It's rough. Used to be our territory had plenty of prey in it, but after a while, we had no choice but to turn elsewhere and hunt wherever the prey was, be it our territory, or that of the hyenas - they would similarly raid us, and we would fight over kills. Now... well, I guess all that's left is to hunt one another."

Oza smiled a cadaverous smile. It was unnerving enough to make even Zira feel uncomfortable. She let the other lions be, and returned to Tuli, who'd been eyeing them suspiciously throughout.

"What's up, Tuli? You still think we should have just gone on our way?"

"I'm sorry," she sighed, eyes downcast, "I just can't help it. They give me the creeps. Them, and this whole place too..."

"Hey, it'll be all right," Zira said, and she nuzzled her friend playfully, "I'm glad you stayed with me, you know..."

Tuli became too flustered to respond, beaming with delighted timidity.

"I think no matter what happens, if the two of us stick together, we can handle it. I mean, look at how well we stood up to those hyenas - must have been a dozen or more of them... speaking of which, didn't they get you pretty bad back there? How's your leg?"

"It's fine..."

"Lemme see... ewww! Fine, she says!" Zira exclaimed when she saw the injury on Tuli's leg: where a chunk of skin should have been, there was now only a nasty messy of stickily dried blood, loose fur, and a lot of dirt.

"It nothing - all superficial. Just a flesh-wound."

Zira snorted incredulously, and without bothering to ask for permission she started to lick the wound clean. Tuli drew back, uttering a suppressed squeal, and she feebly tried to push Zira away. But the other lioness just swatted her paws aside and carried on unflinchingly. After that mostly symbolic gesture, Tuli put up no further resistance, and was happy to let Zira mother over her for a little while.

Later that afternoon, after a bit of a nap, Oza led them over to a nearby spring. It made for little more than a mud-pool, but it was enough to keep them from going thirsty. When they returned to the den and there was still no sight of Kuti, they settled in for more sleep, curling up next to one another away from the strange lions.

As they slept, day turned into night.

It was around midnight when Zira next woke up. She walked over to the edge of the dug-out beyond the overhanging rock-face that made up the den. The world beyond looked ghostly and pale in the wan moonlight. Only when she turned around did Zira realize she was alone. Tuli wasn't there, and neither were any of the strange lions.

It would be too much to say that Zira panicked, but she was definitely worried. Where was everyone? Most importantly, where was Tuli? A sudden fear gripped her: what if she had snuck off into the cave, into the "sanctuary"? Oza had forbidden them from entering, but Zira remembered how suspicious her friend had been throughout. It didn't seem likely she'd heed his commands if she thought something was off. Maybe Tuli had woken up to find the other lions gone, and decided to take that opportunity to have a peek inside the cave...

That musn't be allowed to happen, Zira quickly decided. Even disregarding what the other lions would do if they discovered Tuli sneaking around, there was the question of what effects it would have on whatever it was that was happening inside - maybe Tuli's presence would disturb the ritual, and end up harming both her and Kuti! Zira made a dash for the cave, coming to a stop just before the threshold. The blackness ahead seemed almost solid, and no sound could be heard from inside. Carefully, she put one paw forward...

Noting happened. She walked in just as she would any other cave. Once inside, her eyes quickly adapted to the deepest darkness, and she could vaguely make out the cave walls. Ahead lay a narrow tunnel, descending a bit. Zira moved ahead gingerly, and quickly came upon a number of twists and turns, as well as several obstacles she had to climb over. She wondered how Kuti had managed those. As she went further ahead, the surroundings became cooler, and she felt an arid draft coming from deeper inside the cave.

All the while, Zira saw or heard no sign of Tuli, or any of the other lions. She was just about to turn back, fearing that in her zeal to find Tuli, it had been her and not her friend that had violated the "sanctuary", when she saw light ahead. Did the tunnel perhaps not connect to a cave, but in stead go straight through the hill? Zira weighed her options. If she'd broken the spell of the place just by entering the tunnel, she might as well go all the way and see how Kuti was doing. On the other paw, if no harm had been done so far... maybe Oza had been a bit overzealous, and it was actually all good so long as she just stayed unnoticed by "Father Mauti"? If so, she could have a quick peek, undetected, then head back - no harm, no foul.

Curiosity got the better of her. She stalked forward carefully, silently, hugging the ground, as if she were trying to sneak up on unsuspecting prey. When she reached the source of the light, she could now see that the tunnel opened up to a high, cavernous grotto. A single shaft of moonlight fell in through a small opening in the ceiling, high above. The light petered out quickly away from the hole, and Zira only saw the faintest glimpses of high walls and a huge, dome-shaped roof to the cave. Awed by the sheer size of the thing, her eyes tracked the sides of the cave all the way down to the floor, finding there nothing but an opaque darkness, making it impossible to see much of anything.

The only part of the cave-floor that was clearly visible was directly bellow the opening in the ceiling, illuminated in pale silvery light: an upraised, flat slab of rock. From the cave floor, it reached the height of a tall lion, and then some. Zira couldn't quite see what was on the slab, or beyond it, except for what she saw lying near the edge closest to her: she could make out the contours of a lion's back.

That's where they must have put Kuti, she reasoned. But she couldn't see "Father Mauti" anywhere. Carefully, still trying to remain concealed, she hugged the wall, and slowly made her way around, trying to see what was behind the rock Kuti was resting on. When an image resolved out of the darkness, she froze. It was hard to make out any details, because what she saw was hidden in the shadows at the far end of the cave, but this much she could tell: there was a great lion there, lying on a similarly upraised platform. He sat with his backpaws under him, and his head rested on his forepaws, outstretched in front. Zira could discern an impressive set of manes all about his otherwise oddly slender form. She quickly slunk back to the entrance, before the lion could stir.

She'd resolved to leave, but paused before heading once again into the tunnel. She looked back at Kuti. All she could see was her back, from a low angle. The wounded lioness lay unmoving.

 _Must be asleep._

Zira swallowed. Then she put one pas into the direction of Kuti. Then another. She felt nothing underfoot but smooth rock. The cave remained eerily silent. The closer she got, the less she could see of her friend, on account of how high up Kuti was. Once in front of the rocky platform, she put her paws two-thirds of the way up, while keeping her head down. If she straightened herself out, she'd be able to look down on Kuti - but she'd also be in full view of "Father Mauti".

Tensing up, Zira took a big breath. She could smell the putrid stench she remembered coming from Kuti's old wound, but also something else. A most familiar smell, metallic.

Her mind blanked.

In one quick jerk, she puller herself up and stood leaning against the boulder, towering above Kuti.

The first thing she saw was her friend's face. Her mouth was opened slightly, and her eyes fully. They stared ahead into nothingness, glazed over, dead. Zira's gaze was drawn irresistibly sideways. Where Kuti's chest and stomach had been, nothing remained but cracked ribs and some bloody fur. The rock bellow was covered in grimy smears, appearing black in the moonlight.

Zira wanted to scream, but no sound came out. She wanted to breathe, but her throat felt like it 'd been clamped shut. She wanted to run, but stayed frozen in place. She wanted most of all to wake from the nightmare.

Slowly, she looked up at the lion sitting at the far end of the cave, now much closer by and perfectly visible. Empty sockets stared back at her, above a fixed, toothy grin. An empty husk of fur over bones, forever unmoved.

Now Zira did scream, recoiling. As she did, her grip slipped, and she fell sideways to the cave-floor, landing hard. Unlike the direct approach to the platform, this part of the floor was, upon closer inspection, littered with debris. Directly in front of her lay a lion's skull turned upside-down, broken fangs jutting upward. In a panic, she scrambled to get back up, frustrated by the many bones all around that rolled or slipped away when stepped on, making it difficult to stand. The dull rattle of her struggle echoed mockingly throughout the cave.

When she'd finally found her footing, Zira made to run for the exit, only to smack down to the floor again when an unbearable weight suddenly pressed down on her shoulders. Bones jabbed painfully at her chest. She struggled to get back up, growling angrily, but the weight would not abate, a warm bulk pressed against her back. She tried to move her paws, but they were kept locked in place by someone else's. Turning her head side to side, Zira saw the lionesses Kuooza and Chakaa. They did not look back, and their faces remained expressionless.

She could feel and hear the lion on top of her panting, his breath hot against her ear. She struggled even more desperately than she had before, to no avail.

Zira's writhing in place did nothing, nor did her cursing, or her shouting.

"It can be rough, with no prey around," Oza eventually whispered, his voice now shrill and cruel, with none of the oily amicability it had before, "But we get by. You have to, if you want to survive, or you end up like ol' Mauti up there. I keep him around to remind me what happens when you can't make the tough choices..."

Zira fell silent. It was strange: there were all these things she wanted to shout at the three lions keeping her down, about how she'd kill them, tear out their guts, scratch out their eyes, and drown them in their own blood. But all she heard herself utter were whimpering pleas to let her go. It felt like she was listening to someone else talk.

Not that it mattered much. Oza ignored her, too engrossed in his own wickedness. She could feel his face beside her own, foul breath wafting over her as he prattled on:

"When hunger beckons, you can't always luck into a hyena. Hard choices, yes... The cubs, that was easy enough - they die first whenever things go south anyway, don't you know? Then the mother that put up a fight. Then whomever was weakest. Life belongs to the strong.

"And life rewards the strong, too; every now and then, it'll send an unwary traveler your way - or three of them. Always good for a bite, and a little fun..."

The lion bit into her neck, and Zira could do naught but scream.

* * *

 **author's notes: the more I think about it, the less I am convinced AGAGF needs Zira's backstory. It's a bit of a staple of TLK fanfics of course, yet I think that the way I've written her up 'till now works just fine without the origins of that having to be explained. If / when I do a final edit, I'll probably leave it out, and just throw what I have into an appendix-chapter or something. Your thoughts?**


	14. The education of Chumvi

**preface: we meet back up with the gang from chapter nine, "** **Child's play"** **(** **which I have edited a bit for this occasion** **).** **Being kids, they were already quite capable of behaving like vicious little monsters... and that was before Zira took an interest in them.**

* * *

 **The education of Chumvi**

"But I don't want to be in a team with _her_!" Rinda gestured dismissively at the younger, cream-colored cub.

By now, Nala knew better than to speak up – it would only get her into more trouble. She simply looked down at her paws while the others decided on what was to be done with her – or rather, who would bear the burden of having her on their team.

"You always do this, putting her with me and Chumvi," Rinda continued, "How about you guys take her for a change?"

"Don't blame us, it's your own fault for wanting to be on the same side as your uncle all the time," Kali shot back haughtily.

"Yeah," Mheetu chimed in, "How many times I gotta explain this to you, you dummy? Chumvi's the biggest of the bunch, and Nala is the runt, so if you put them together, it evens out. Simple!"

Chumvi frowned, but said nothing. It felt weird for them to call him Rinda's uncle, made him sound older than he really was. Objectively speaking, they were right to call him that, of course: he was Winda's last cub, while Rinda was the daughter of Winda's first cub, Wana, who in turn was Chumvi's half-sister. Still, it seemed kind of odd to apply the term to cubs who were practically litter-mates, only about a year apart in age.

Not that it really bothered Chumvi. No, what really annoyed him was the larger argument unfolding once again, about who would be on whose team. It was an issue when they played tag, when they did playfights, and once again now that they wanted to play "pride versus rogues". Always the same nonsense: Mheetu decided he would be on a team with Kali, and that Nala and Chumvi would be on the other side. Then all that was left was to fight over who of the remaining cubs would get the privilege of being with Kali and Mheetu: Rinda or Zimua? And because Rinda preferred to be on Chumvi's side...

Chumvi didn't like any of it. He didn't like being told what side he had to be on by Mheetu all the time, and he liked it even less how everyone was so callous and indifferent towards Nala. Sure, she was the youngest, and that made her a bit of a liability if you wanted to win whatever game it was they were playing. But who cares if it's just a game! When you're playing, it should be about having a good time, Chumvi thought. It should be about _everyone_ having a good time, not just Kali and Mheetu.

But, as per usual, Chumvi said nothing, and went along with whatever it was Mheetu decided on.

"You know, Mheetu, maybe we should have the runt on our team, just this one time," Kali said, "After all, how tough is Chumvi, really? He might be the oldest, but I think you're really the best!"

It was a mostly baseless compliment, the kind Kali was wont to make whenever she wanted to inflate Mheetu's ego. And as always, it worked, leaving the other cub beaming and feeling generous. Mheetu agreed to switch things up a bit and have Nala team up with them.

And again, Chumvi said nothing.

From a distance, Zira watched the spectacle with growing disdain. Her stare fixed itself on the largest of the cubs, a lithe young male with the beginning of dark, wavy manes - Chumvi.

Haven't I taught that young lion anything? she thought. There he was, still letting the younger, smaller, and weaker Mheetu push him around, just because the other cub could talk a better game. Zira snorted angrily, which earned her a questioning glance from the lioness called Wana, who lay nearby.

Cubsitting wasn't half as much fun now that another lioness was with her, Zira mused. Not that Wana had said or done anything to hinder her – quite to the contrary; she was very much of the paws-off type when it came to the cubs, which Zira could appreciate. Yet just by having her around, Zira felt herself shying away from doing things like intervening to break up the little cliques that were obviously forming among the cubs.

Still, having another lioness around was to be expected – with six cubs from six different mothers, they were never short on volunteers for watching the youngsters, no matter how much Zira would prefer to take them all under her wings alone and mold the little brats in her image.

Not that she would let a little company stop her from trying.

It was a strange thing – Zira never thought of herself as liking cubs, or wanting them, or even being able to stand them. Yet what she had discovered when she was roped into cubsitting a while ago, was that there was rather a lot for her to like about the whole thing. For one, cubs were weaker than her, even when they were all put together. That meant she had nothing to fear from them, no matter how well or little she knew or trusted them. Not to mention that, by and large, cubs were a rather transparent and obvious bunch, so backstabbing and betrayal were non-issues too.

And best of all, cubs could be made to act or think a certain way with minimal effort. Easy to manipulate, if you will; a nice word here, a taunt there, play up their insecurities and competitiveness a bit... It made Zira feel powerful, which she consciously enjoyed. Of course now that Wana was watching, she had to dial it down a notch. So Zira kept her head down for the time being, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the cubs.

Now that the youngsters had ironed out the details of what the teams would be, they could finally begin their play in earnest. Half of the cubs would be the "pride", and the other half the "rogues". The pride-members would position themselves on a rock, boulder, or a flattened termite mound, and the rogues would then try to push them off. To compensate for the pride's defensive advantage, members of team-rogue were allowed to climb onto and fall off the rock twice as often as members of team-pride. Usually they would go with a fall-and-you're-out-rule for the pride, so they could have quick, short games with teams switching positions in between, but it could as well be a five-lives versus ten-lives match.

It was more a variation on king-of-the-hill than anything else, but it sounded cooler to say "pride versus rogues," so that's what they played most of the time.

Mheetu, Kali and Nala took the first turn playing the pride, and positioned themselves on a round, flat boulder. It was low enough that all cubs but Nala could jump on it with a single leap, not needing to climb up or anything. With that type of set-up, the best bet for the rogues was to coordinate their jumps and attack all at once, while the pride had to hope for piecemeal attempts, so they could rush the individual rogues.

"All right, runt, you're in our team now, so don't you dare screw up," Kali growled, just before they started. Nala tried to ignore her, yet she couldn't help but tense up.

"You all ready? Ok... go!"

The rogues didn't immediately attack, in stead circling around the boulder for a bit. All three of them bunched together, so the pride followed suit, expecting an attack from only one direction. Then suddenly, Chumvi leapt forward, while Rinda and Zimua bounded off to the sides. The pride had expected them to make the jump together, so they all rushed forward as soon as Chumvi jumped, leaving the flanks undefended.

Pushing the oldest cub off proved easy enough, three versus one, but now the two other rogues had most of the boulder to themselves when they jumped on. Shoulder-to-shoulder, they went for the members of the pride, all three of them now perilously close to the edge after fending off Chumvi. Quickest on her paws was Kali, who spun around and handily jumped over a surprised Rinda and Zimua – though it did mean leaving Nala and Mheetu to fend for themselves. Mheetu wasn't about to let himself be done in that easily, though: he rushed forward and viciously rammed Rinda, who gave a pained yelp before awkwardly tumbling over the side.

That left Nala, facing Zimua alone. She dug in her heels, preparing to push back against the older cub that came charging at her. And lo! she didn't budge when Zimua pushed up against her, bravely and against all expectations managing to stand her ground.

Or at least, she would have, if not for the fact that Mheetu and Kali in turn dashed up against the remaining rogue, surprising both her an Nala. Now that the force of three cubs faced that of one, Nala fell backwards off the boulder, landing on her side, twisting one of her forepaws. Then Zimua crashed on top of her, and Nala cried out in pain.

"Nala! Your sacrifice will not have been in vain!" Mheetu called out from atop the boulder, much to Kali's amusement.

Chumvi rushed over to the prone cub. "Nala, are you all right? Do you need me to..."

"I'm fine!" she snapped, aware of how Chumvi's kindness was limited to those instances where it didn't go against Mheetu or Kali, and hating him for it, "You really wanna help? Then bring those two backstabbers down for me!"

"Humpf! You know, Nala, that's why no-one want to be on your team – you're just not a team-player," Kali commented, "No loyalty!"

"What? But you pushed _me_ off!"

"Only for the greater good... of me winning!"

From her perch nearby, Zira let out a sudden and inappropriately loud burst of laughter, which momentary interrupted the game. They carried on as soon as it abated. The rogues all had one attempt left, while the pride was down to two defenders. Anything could still happen. Chumvi quickly huddled together with his crew and whispered a few instructions, after which they broke up and started running around the boulder again. Rinda and Zimua went one way, and Chumvi the other.

In an upset from their previous attack, it were the two rogue-lionesses who jumped first this time, on opposite ends of the boulder. Mheetu and Kali teamed up against Zimua, whom they quickly overpowered, but before they could turn around Rinda jumped up against Mheetu, causing the both of them to tumble over the edge, too.

Now that only Kali was left, Chumvi entered the fray, reasoning he shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with her one-on-one. He casually hopped onto the rock. Kali's agility provided for another upset, however, because she was on Chumvi as soon as he'd landed, meaning she was in the comfortable position of pushing outward from the safe middle, while his heels were dug in at the precipice.

Chumvi felt one of his backpaws slip over the edge. Solid tactics and superior strength notwithstanding, he was about to lose the match, and to that harpy Kali no less! Her ruthless sacrifice of Nala was about to pay off. Chumvi suddenly felt a rage burning inside, and that feeling of anger involuntarily made him think back to something that had happened a while ago. It had been the only other time he remembered when Zira had been cubsitting them, and at that time she had goaded him into trying to fight her. She'd hit him about the head a couple of times, and then...

 _That's it!_

Chumvi swiped at Kali's forepaws with one claw, and aimed the other for her head, knocking her to the side. Because she was directing all her power at pushing forward, this immediately sent her flying; she hit her face on the edge of the boulder, tumbling down headfirst.

"Rogues win!"

His head held high, Chumvi grinned broadly as he waited for the others to jubilantly congratulate him on his victory. The only thing he heard, though, was crying.

"Chumvi, what the hell?"

Chumvi looked down from the boulder. Below, all the other cubs had gathered around a sobbing Kali. One side of her muzzle was all bloodied, some of it coming out her nose, the rest out of a gash in her upper lip. There was some blood on the edge of the boulder where she hit her face, too. Zimua and Rinda did their best to comfort her, while Nala looked on with a horrified expression. Mheetu angrily glared up at Chumvi.

"Oh... eh... oops."

"That's all you have to say?" Mheetu snarled, and he leaped up on to the boulder. Chumvi backed away as the younger cub kept chiding him: "Did you see what you did to Kali? What on earth were you thinking? This is just a game, you can't go around beating others up like that..."

Neither of the two adult lionesses watching the cubs had payed much attention to their play, but the commotion caused by a crying Kali and a raging Mheetu was a different matter. They both came over to have a closer look at Kali, momentarily ignoring the two male cubs.

"All right, what's the big deal?" Zira wondered. Before having even seen what had happened, she'd already decided it was probably nothing: "You two, out of my way – let me get a look at her."

She cupped Kali's chin in one of her paws and roughly turned her head towards her own. The cub was bawling all the while.

"Enough with the crying already! It's just a bit of blood... yeah, this doesn't look too bad." She stuck one of her claws under Kali's wounded lip and pulled it up slightly, eliciting a pained whimper. "Don't be a baby. Look there! you still have all your teeth. Can you still stand up? Say your own name? Yeah? Well, then it's nothing; you're fine!"

Wana, the only other adult lioness present, was a bit apprehensive of Zira's rough treatment of the cubs, and she'd mumbled something along the lines of "hey, take it easy" while Zira had been doing the check-up. All in all, she agreed with her assessment of the damage, though. She proceeded to comfort Kali, and cleaned her up a bit.

Zira, meanwhile, had lost all interest in the wounded cub as soon as she'd made sure she wasn't hurt too badly, and turned her attention to Mheetu and Chumvi, who were still arguing atop the boulder.

"Hey, I'm sorry she got hurt, but I didn't know she'd hit her head like that, it could've happened to any of us," Chumvi pleaded.

"Yeah right! I saw what you did – what did you think was going to happen when you knocked her paws out from under her and then smacked her on the head?"

"I dunno – look, it was an accident, okay?"

As they were arguing, Mheetu kept pushing Chumvi further along the boulder, until they came to the opposite side of where Kali had fallen down. Unable to back away further, the two youngsters were now so close their chests were touching, with Chumvi drawing back his head, and Mheetu extending his.

Zira thought it looked patently ridiculous, owning to their height difference.

"Look, I said I was sorry, all right – what more do you want?" Chumvi pleaded.

"What I want, is for you to apologize to Kali – not because she "got hurt", but because it was _you_ that hurt her. And then you're gonna admit you would have lost the match if not for that nasty trick you pulled. You should have lost anyway; what you did was basically cheating!"

"All right, all right! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit Kali like that. I was in the wrong, you guys deserved to win the match."

"That's what I thought!" Mheetu declared. Puffing up his chest, he suddenly pushed forward against Chumvi. The older cub could have probably held firm if he tried, but he didn't, and fell backwards off the boulder.

"Pride wins!" Mheetu shouted, grinning triumphantly. He quickly made his way over to the others, while Chumvi was left lying dejectedly in the dirt.

Falling down hadn't hurt much, yet he still felt like he was on the edge of crying.

Suddenly, a shadow swept over him. Chumvi looked up, and saw Zira outlined darkly against the bright skies.

"Pathetic," she growled, "Wana! I'm taking your baby-brother for a little walk, you keep an eye on the rest of them."

Figuring a little time-out would do Chumvi good, Wana agreed without giving it a second thought.

The cubs had been playing in a spot not too far away from Priderock. Naturally, Zira took off with Chumvi in the opposite direction. They made their way through the high grass on the edge of the rocky clearing. The brittle yellow blades snapped and crumpled as the lions passed through them – it was proving to be a particularly long dry-season, and it started to show. Zira didn't pay it much heed, though – she was used to worse, much worse.

They walked in silence for the longest time. It unnerved Chumvi; he'd rather she just chewed him out right then and there, get it all over with. But Zira kept mum. Eventually, Chumvi had had enough and decided he might as well be the first one to speak.

"Look, eh, miss Zira, I think I already know what you're gonna say, so lets just get it over with: I'm sorry, all right? I know I was wrong – I should've been more careful with Kali, and I promise it won't happen again..."

Zira halted, and sighed audibly, before turning to Chumvi.

"You pathetic little shit," she growled, "Just get it over with, he says – how's about I bash your skull in? It'll be over real quick that way."

The look she gave him made Chumvi believe she meant it. He cowered back.

"I'd be doing us both a favor, too: I won't have to cringe every-time I hear or see you do anything, and you'll be spared from having to grow up a miserable excuse for a lion!"

"I already said I was sorry..." Chumvi uttered, oblivious.

"Sorry? What the hell d'you have to be sorry for? Except for being a pitiful worm, maybe."

"But... Kali..."

"Bah, who cares about that?" Zira snorted, "So you nicked her pretty little face, big deal. Back when I was still a cub, if we played and there wasn't any blood, we weren't doing it right. "Pride versus rogues" is _supposed_ to be violent, that's half the fun! What'd you have to go and apologize for? You shouldn't apologize for being a winner."

Chumvi frowned. When he saw Kali with blood all over her face, he sure hadn't felt like a winner.

"Seriously, though: why did you apologize? You said yourself that you didn't do anything wrong, at first."

That was true: even though he didn't like how he ended up hurting Kali, he didn't think he'd done wrong _per se_. It had been a pretty rough match, after all: Mheetu and Kali had been brutally callous with Nala, if not quite as violent, and neither of the had apologized then. Just thinking of it made him angry again.

"Well it's not like I had a choice!" he snapped, surprising Zira with his sudden temper, "It looked really bad, with Kali all bloody like that, and then Mheetu started giving me hell – what was I supposed to do?"

"Well gee whiz, I don't know – uh, how about standing your ground, maybe?"

"You don't know anything! They were all against me, right then, so if I talked back I would have just made things worse... Whatever, it's not like you would understand..."

"Yeah, sure, how could I even comprehend your pain – you're just too deep for me," Zira replied sarcastically, "Listen here, kiddo: of course you get nothing if you're just being a whiny little puss. Nobody likes a loser."

"What, so I should have beaten up Mheetu, too?"

"Why not?" Zira shrugged, "Or you could have started with just talking back to him, in stead of groveling. You're almost twice his size, what's he gonna do?"

"You don't know anything," Chumvi repeated, more silently that the first time, "Everyone's always going along with Mheetu – him and Kali. I'd be an idiot to go against them. I'll just end up being the cub nobody likes."

"You think anyone likes you now? That pathetic display just now sure didn't make you any new friends, I'll tell you that. Here's who most definitely doesn't like you: Nala."

Chumvi tried his best not to look affected by what Zira said, and failed. She took notice immediately.

"Don't think I didn't notice," Zira continued, gleefully relentless, "She's just so small and helpless – you just want to keep her safe, don't you? It's instinct. But you're not doing a very good job of it. The others keep picking on her, and I can tell you want to put a stop to that. But you don't - you just sit there, saying nothing, doing nothing."

"I already told you there's nothing I can do," Chumvi mumbled ruefully, staring at his paws, "They wouldn't listen to me anyway..."

Zira was not a patient lioness – not for others anyway. For her own sake, she could bide her time endlessly, but she wouldn't waste any time indulging a mopey youngster like Chumvi.

She jumped him. The young lion was too self-absorbed to see her coming, and went down without as much as a peep. Both forepaws on his shoulders, Zira kept him down.

"See, _now_ there's nothing you can do!" she quipped over his protests.

"Aah! What the hell! Let me go!"

"What'll you do if I don't?"

Try as he might, Chumvi could not manage to get from under the lioness. Though he was the oldest of the cubs, he was still about a year from being a full-grown lion, and no match for Zira.

"This... isn't... fair..." He struggled to get a word out, "You're stronger than me, and older."

"Well I couldn't hold you down if I wasn't, could I? And that's the point: I'm stronger than you, so you're not getting back up unless I want you to. Get it?"

"Get what?"

"Power, you idiot! I have power over you. Regardless of what you think of me, or might feel, I can physically hold you down, kick your ass. Heck, I could kill you if I wanted to. I know Mufasa and that crazy monkey of his liked to prattle on about the circle of life, but really, what it's all about is power. Power in strength, in size, even in numbers – ask the hyenas. It's a hard limit; like or dislike, right or wrong, laws, kingship... none of it matters if you measure up your power against that of someone else, and come up short. Most acutely felt when it comes to the application of physical force: if I keep you down, and you can't get back up... well, that's that.

"Now, think about this for a bit: do you think this might apply anywhere else, what I'm showing you now?"

Zira let go of Chumvi, and quickly jumped away. She needn't have bothered: he got up cautiously, and not intending to get back at her.

"Yeah I get it. I could fight Mheetu, and win. Great – I'm sure everyone will think much better of me once I start getting beating them up regularly."

"Well you shouldn't do that – probably," Zira agreed, "All the same, you shouldn't shy away from a fight, if that's what it takes to get your way. You're stronger than the other cubs, and admittedly, that's not fair - just lucky timing being born before them. But that doesn't make it any less so..."

Zira paused, licking her lips. She noticed that Chumvi was looking less sulky and more attentive than he had before. Was she finally getting through to him?

"Look, I'm not sure if this is the right way to put it, but... you're stronger than you think, Chumvi, and when I see you letting yourself get pushed around, that just doesn't sit right with me. Acting like that could get you killed one day, when you're out on your own. I don't need you to become a maniac – though that _would_ be pretty amusing – but just to remember that, if it comes to that, against any of the other cubs, you could come out on top in any argument, if you really wanted to.

"If there's something – or someone, get it? – you really want to stand up for, you could, and you'd win every time. Sure, Mheetu might hate your guts, and Kali will look at you funny, but really, I'm pretty sure they already despise you. I would, if I were them; it's not like they can't see how you're twice their size, yet they still push you around... So really, there's nothing for you to fear: nobody can touch you, and their opinion of you has nowhere to go but up...

"But listen to me just prattling on!" Zira made a disgusted face, downplaying her own verbosity. She didn't have much else to say besides; if she hadn't convinced the young lion to "better" his ways by now, then no amount of talk from her would.

But Chumvi had indeed listened, and if he didn't give any reply, it was because he was carefully poring over Zira's words. In truth, she hadn't told him anything he hadn't known before, on some level. But it helped to hear these things spoken out loud, in a simplified form. The way things were going between the cubs of the pride was not at all to his liking, and neither was his place in their little group. So what was it that kept him from trying to change things, when he knew deep down that things really did need to change? Not necessarily for his own benefit, but maybe for Nala's sake – that poor girl was having a hard time of it, after all.

He had his size going for him, if nothing else... so why not at least try and throw his weight around, see if he could do some good?

 _Because that's not who I am_ , a voice whispered inside his head – his own voice, _I don't want to tell others what to do, I don't want to boss anyone around – and I don't want to hurt anyone_.

That wasn't the whole truth, though. Chumvi knew full well there was more to him than that – there was another lion inside of him. Not really; he didn't have a split or dual personality or anything like that. Rather, it was just an aspect of himself he hadn't realized was there for the longest time. Calling it another lion was just how he made sense of it.

He'd encountered him only once before, this other lion. Not coincidentally, it had been when he'd first met Zira, and she goaded him into fighting her. That's what made the other lion appear for the first time. And to be sure, Zira had seen the change come over him back then. She even whispered something to that effect, back then. "Killer" was the word Zira used.

That would of course be taking it a bit too far.

* * *

"Sheesh, finally, there you are!" Mheetu yawned as he got up, taking a few steps in the direction of Zira and Chumvi, "What took you guys so long?"

"They _were_ gone an awfully long time... you think they're a couple?" Kali wondered.

"Ewww, Chumvi, gross! I didn't know you were into older lionesses..."

"Tssk!" It only took Zira a few quick strides to reach Mheetu, and she put a paw on him before he could slither away. "Mheetu, darling, you break my heart talking like that! You know I only have eyes for you!"

To illustrate her point, she gave the squirming young lion a sloppy wet kiss on the nose, to everyone else's disgust and delight. As soon as she let him go, he started frantically pawing at his face, as if that would undo what had just happened. Grinning widely, Zira left the cubs to their own devices and went to lay down next to Wana.

"You sure seem to be in a better mood than you were," the other lioness noted, "What were you doing with Chumvi anyway?"

"Told him he should stand up for himself more."

That was one way of looking at it.

"Good advice; my little brother _is_ a bit of a chump." Chumvi seemed to have heard, because he shot a wounded look at the adult lionesses. "Well you are!"

Wana turned back to Zira, now taking care to talk more quietly: "Say, Zira, what made you take an interest in my little bro anyway? I can't recall you spending a lot of time with the cubs before... come to think of it, I can't recall you for much of anything."

"I mostly keep to myself," Zira admitted frankly. Why shouldn't she? It's not like you can hide something like that if everyone you ever meet are the same dozen lionesses of the pride.

"That's true, you do seem like a loner."

"Sure, go ahead, lay it on – I don't care."

"Sorry if I'm being a bit forward, I just can't help say whatever comes to mind."

"It's fine, I already told you I don't care," Zira grumbled. She really was fine with it. In fact, Zira would love it if all lionesses spoke their mind at all times: that would make it a lot easier to trust them. "As for watching the cubs, I did that only once before. I had a good time of it, so I figured I might as well volunteer to do it a second time..."

"Really?" Wana sounded incredulous. "That's weird; most lionesses think it's a hassle. It's a good thing the cubs are from six different mothers, or I doubt we'd find any volunteers on most days. I think you're just about the only cub-less lioness who bothers... Say, Zira, watching other lionesses' cubs, doesn't that make you want to have some kids of your own?"

"Not particularly."

"But you could, if you wanted too? I mean, it's not like you're barren or anything?"

Zira glared at the other lioness from the corners of her eyes. Honesty is fine, but that was just plain rude. "Not that I know of."

"Oh. So Mufasa never..."

"No."

"You know, I bet it's because you scared him. I don't know if you know this, but most of the other lionesses think you're scary."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment."

* * *

"So... what do you guys want to do now?"

"While we were waiting for you to come back, we were thinking of playing hide-and-seek."

"Hide-and-seek, huh? Fine with me."

"I wanted to do some playfighting in stead," Mheetu added, "But then I figured it'd be best if we avoided anything that would arouse your bloodlust."

"Yeah, yeah..." Chumvi frowned. Was this the kind of thing he should speak up against? No, this was just banter, no need to get worked up over that. Too bad he couldn't think of witty comebacks, though – things would be so much easier if he could out-talk Mheetu even just one time in ten.

Turning away from Mheetu, he discreetly glanced at Kali. She'd always been the prettiest of the cubs, owning mostly to her big, dark eyes, and she was well aware of that fact. Her fall hadn't done much to tarnish those looks: the ridge of her nose was swollen a bit, as was her upper lip, but she didn't look any worse for the wear otherwise.

When Kali saw Chumvi looking at her, she glared back angrily. Figuring it might be less awkward if he just up and asked how she was doing, he went and did just that.

"Kali, are you doing all right?"

She stuck out her tongue, then turned her back on him.

 _Could have gone worse._

Mheetu couldn't help but remark on it, of course: "Don't worry, Chumvi, you'll always have Zira! Anyways... Let's play some hide-and-seek! I say Chumvi gets to be "it" first, because he ruined pride versus rogues, and then kept us waiting while he was off doing whatever with Zira."

"Fair enough."

"Do we play it with or without tapping out?" Nala suddenly asked.

Since their previous game took a bloody turn, the youngest of the cubs had been pretty much ignored by the others, who focused all their attention on Kali after her nosedive. As this made for an improvement compared to the usual teasing, Nala didn't much mind. Now that she made a point relevant to the activity at hand, though, she expected to be heard. It was quite vexing when Mheetu just continued to ignore her and proposed Chumvi begin counting down immediately.

"All right, Chumvi, begin counting whenever..."

"Hey, hold it, Nala asked you something," Chumvi interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I said, Nala asked you something," the older cub snarled, taking a few paces towards Mheetu, "Why'd you have to talk over her?"

"Chumvi, don't worry about it, it's all right," Nala said silently, slightly embarrassed. But Chumvi wasn't about to back down now.

"No, you had a good point – inquiring minds want to know: are we gonna do this with or without tapping out?"

Mheetu would have remarked on how it was funny that in getting angry over Nala being ignored, he was ignoring her himself. But there there was something unnerving about the look in Chumvi's eyes, and the younger male decided to just stick to the topic at hand.

"Well, with tapping out, obviously."

"Why? Just because you say so? Who died and made you king?"

"Err... no one? But hide-and-seek and seek without tapping out is just totally boring, you know?"

Mheetu was right, of course; if you play hide-and-seek without tapping out, there is no element of tension to the game. Given enough time, whoever is it will manage to find all the others eventually no matter how well they hide. Not so If you play it with tapping out, because then it becomes a game with actual winners, losers, and strategies beyond just trying to hide yourself really well. Plus, it's a lot more exciting if everything can come down to a last-minute dash.

These are inarguable, objective facts.

The problem was that Chumvi had made a point of assailing Mheetu over his automatic preference for choosing to play with tapping out, so now he was stuck feeling like he had to defend an inferior game variant. Lucky for him, Nala made an effort to defuse the situation before he managed to make a fool of himself.

"Mheetu is right, playing with tapping out is obviously more fun. I just asked because I wanted to make sure before we started playing, 's all."

If not for the fact that everyone was watching him, Chumvi would have breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for Nala's intervention. Not so for Mheetu, though: he glared nastily at Nala, who was taken totally aback, but said nothing.

"All right, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure everyone was all right with it. Let's get this game going, then! You can tap out at this rock here, this'll be "home" – I'll draw a little circle around it, like this... Okay, all set? 10... 9..."

The other cubs quickly scrambled to get out of sight. The challenge was to find a spot where they could get the best possible view of home, while still staying somehow-what hidden. That way, they could see when Chumvi strayed too far, which was when the other cubs would have to try and make their move. Another variable was just how far away to hide; the surface area, and thus the number of available hiding-spots, expands exponentially the farther away you get from home – but the distance you'd have to cover to tap-out gets longer and longer, too.

Nala, for her part, hid behind a thick thorn-bush not too far away from home. It served about as well as any old obstacle for hiding behind, except for one special feature: near the ground, a small hole ran right through the thicket, giving her a more or less unobstructed view of where Chumvi was counting down. Nala figured that unless he got really close, he wouldn't be able to see her peeking at him. Perfect! After the last game's humiliation, she felt in the mood for actually wining for once.

Unbeknownst to Nala, however, someone had silently followed her to her hiding place.

Nala could see that when Chumvi was done counting, the first thing he did was to take a good look at his immediate environs from where he stood; it wouldn't be the first time someone opted for a totally crappy, but also very nearby hiding place, only to jump in and tap out as soon as Chumvi took two paces away from home.

When the older cub's gaze fixed itself on Nala's hiding-spot, she recoiled with a start, and quickly backed away from the peeping-hole, wondering if he'd seen her already. As she moved backward, she suddenly bumped into someone. Already on edge, she had to bite her own tongue to keep from screaming out.

Turned out it was just Mheetu.

"Mheetu, what on earth are you doing here?" she whispered, "Get your own hiding place!"

His only response was to squint his eyes, and give her a mean look. Nala suddenly felt a lot less relieved than she had. She took a step back, wordlessly signaling that she didn't understand what Mheetu was trying to tell her.

"I don't know what game it is you think you're playing..." Mheetu eventually grumbled.

 _Hide-and-seek?_

"... but I don't like it. What do you think you're doing, getting between me and Chumvi, huh?"

Nala's mouth dropped open. What? she mouthed, without a sound.

More than anything else, the other cub's stance gave her pause: he had his paws spread wide, planted firmly on the ground, and now he lowered his head, too, as if he was preparing for a fight. Nala took another step back. Hide-and-seek was suddenly far removed from her mind.

"We normally get along just fine," Mheetu continued unperturbed, moving forward as Nala inched back,"But now he's suddenly beating up Kali because you tell him to, and giving me shit when I ignore your stupid, childish questions. So it's obviously got something to do with you... Well it ends now, you hear? Chumvi goes back to being my buddy, and you can keep on being the snotty little brat nobody likes!"

What the blazes is he going on about, Nala wondered. Mheetu was upset, that much she could tell, but very little of what he said made any sense. He had never been that close to Chumvi, for one; he was just another cub for Mheetu to push around whenever it struck his fancy, as their little spat over Kali's injury had shown. Speaking of which, Nala never asked Chumvi to "beat up" Kali, but only to get get back at her and Mheetu by winning the game of pride-and-rogues. Kali getting hurt was just an accident.

Someone shouted in the distance, about tapping out. The game was still going on, then – not that either Nala or Mheetu still cared.

Nala took another step back, and felt a thorn pricking at her backpaw. She was all the way up against the thornbush now, trying to get as far away from Mheetu as she could. But his reaction was to keep moving in closer.

"Mheetu, you're scaring me," Nala whimpered, no longer bothering to keep quiet. The other cub bared his fangs, his face contorted to a snarl.

* * *

Chumvi thought he saw something moving behind a thornbush in the distance. Was that just his imagination, or was there really someone there? From where he was sitting, it did not look like a very good hiding spot to Chumvi, making him think no-one would want to try to hide there in the first place. Then again, that didn't have to mean anything, and one of the cubs could have just made a wrong choice. It's not always easy to tell yourself if you're well hidden, after all; that's for the outside observer to decide.

As an outside observer, Chumvi just wasn't sure about this one, though. He could go check, but it was pretty far away. Others might take his absence from the home as an opportunity to tap out. On the other paw, it was enough for Chumvi to just find one of the others and get back to home before them. Then they would be it, and finding the others would just be a victory lap. And whoever it was that was hiding there, Chumvi felt confident he could outrun 'm, what with his longer legs and all.

He took a chance for it. Stalking carefully forward, he avoided making any sound, so as not to tip-off whoever it was that was hiding there – or whoever Chumvi _hoped_ was hiding there. He hadn't taken even ten paces, though, when he suddenly heard a jubilant shout behind him.

"Ha! I win this one, you big meanie!"

He looked back, and there was Kali, sitting next to the home, eying him smugly. Chumvi hadn't the slightest clue as to where she could have been hiding. She stuck out her tongue at him again. He couldn't think of any better comeback than to just ape her, and do likewise. To Chumvi's surprise, that seemed to amuse Kali, somehow.

He turned his attention back to the thornbush.

There'd better be someone hiding there, he thought, because at this rate all the others will tap out before I even get there.

Then he heard Nala's voice coming from behind the thornbush. Because he hadn't expected to be hearing anything, he missed whatever it was she said, but it was unmistakably her voice. Chumvi felt a bit bad because now Nala would have to be it the next round, but only just a little; if she didn't want to be it, she shouldn't have talked out loud like that. That was only fair, and not like the last game, where she'd been betrayed.

Now no longer bothering to be stealthy, Chumvi hopped over to the hiding place in a few quick bounds and peeked his head around the edge.

His first though was of how fortunate he was to find two of the other cubs in one place, and not just Nala. Then he noticed how Nala was cowering against the thorns in the face of Mheetu's threatening stance and vicious looks.

And Chumvi became angry. From one moment to the next, all the times when the other cubs had picked on Nala played themselves out before his mind's eye. He remembered how he had sat and done nothing every time, and how powerless and pathetic that made him feel.

Not this time.

Chumvi let out an angry roar – such as it was, at his age – and rushed towards Mheetu. The other cub only had time to turn his head, a mix of surprise and spite writ on his face, and raise one of his paws before his assailant was on him. Chumvi pounced at Mheetu with all his might, biting down on his upraised paw. Mheetu gave way, dropped back, and the force of Chumvi's charge was such that they rolled over almost twice.

Now lying down in a tangled mess of clawing and biting, Chumvi kicked hard at the younger cub's rump with his backpaws, and all air went out of a gasping Mheetu. Before he could recover, Chumvi was already back up, grabbing the other cub by the scruff of the neck, and half dragging, half tossing him into the thornbush. Now Mheetu did find his breath, just enough to howl out in pain as the spines rent his skin.

It would have been plenty if Chumvi had let off Mheetu even before he started kicking him in the gut; throwing him to the thorns was already going too far. Yet he still wasn't done. When Mheetu had joked about his bloodlust, Chumvi had shrugged it of as baseless teasing. Now he tasted the great and terrible truth of it. By now the others had gathered around, and they shouted for him to stop. He couldn't hear – he couldn't even tell who they were, they were just faceless blurs now. He ignored them.

Mheetu crawled out of the brush with a mind only for getting away from those terrible spikes, and Chumvi pounced again. His paws beat down on the helpless cub's head, once, twice, a third time.

Then something grabbed Chumvi by the throat and pushed his body down into the grass, and it was over. His heavy breathing slowed back to normal. Where before he had heard nothing but the frantic pounding of his own heartbeat, the sound of horrified voices now resolved itself all around him. He could see Mheetu lying a bit away, wheezing, coughing, and bloodied all over, with Wana carefully tending to him. The others were standing around them – where had they come from all of a sudden, Chumvi wondered.

And as he looked up, he saw Zira standing above him. She was grinning widely, and her eyes shone with pride. The sight of her horrified Chumvi.

* * *

 **author's notes: hmm, so that's a 50/50 split on keeping Zira's back-story in... Since I've started by sprinkling it throughout the story, I'll keep that up at least until I reach the end; there's still one chapter's worth of stuff there. Not sure as to what I'll do if I ever get around to a final edit.**

 **As always, big thanks to ograndebatata and Anon for putting up with my sporadic updates and snail-paced storytelling.**


	15. The stranger

**preface: this chapter is a quickie, a follow-up to chapter 8 - Lovers. I wanted to insert it as a later chapter, but I figured I might as well post it now to make up for the long silence.  
**

* * *

 **The stranger**

I am from a different place, visiting here only on a whim. I'm a rogue, if you're wondering. That might sound ominous, but you shouldn't worry too much about it; a rogue is just a lion with no territory. Most lions are a rogue at some point in their lives; usually, when a lion grows up, his father ends up kicking him out of the pride. It's so he won't have competition, you see: if a lion has a pride, that means the lionesses in that pride are his, and when it comes to those matters, most of us don't like to share.

That's how it was in my case: the old man kicked me out when my gaze started to drift towards his lionesses a bit too often. That was his right, to chase me off, he had that power. Mostly by virtue of being stronger than me; I was still pretty young.

But I managed. Not all rogues do, mind you; not all young lions can make it on their own. I've survived so far, though I don't suppose I've "made it" the way most lions see it. I'm still a rogue, after all, and for a rogue to make it, is to stop being a rogue. You have to get your own territory, get your own pride.

That means taking a territory and a pride away from another lion. I mean, I suppose you could luck into a pride that just lost their own lion, but that doesn't usually happen. Mostly because the way a lion who has his own pride dies, is almost all the time because a rogue kills him, and that of course fills the vacancy real quick.

Fighting and possibly killing another lion to take his pride is of course not a very nice thing to do. But a lion's got to eat – hard to do that without a territory.

And then, of course, there are the girls! Now there's something worth killing over.

As a matter of fact, that's why I'm here. It's about a girl. Is that something important enough for me to be allowed to intrude here? You might not think so, think that I have no right to stir up trouble over a girl.

And you'd have a point; I have had many lionesses, and I could have others if I wanted – I can certainly imagine easier ones I could get right now.

But I want this one. I want Sarafina. Why? No reason, really. She is not special. But she is what I want. You can't choose what you want.

There's just one problem: I can't have her. That is to say – I could, with some effort. What it comes down to is, I'm not supposed to have her. Because here, in this place, rules apply. And those rules tell me I can't have Sarafina.

So what does that mean for me? Rules do not mean anything. They don't bite. The things you should watch out for generally do. Or they sting... claws are also dangerous. So why should I care what the rules are, if they are not dangerous? Well, some animals believe in them. And those animals can be dangerous.

Like it's not enough that animals are dangerous in themselves, sometimes they even get together and decide to make certain ideas dangerous to me, too! This causes a lot of trouble for me.

Anyway. I can't have Sarafina, because of rules. She belongs to a pride. I don't. A pride with a _king_. That means she's his girl, basically. It might be a different lion every once in a while, but she'll always belong to the guy who has the pride. That is how I understand it. And because he is a _king_ , his father owned the pride, and his son will own it after him.

I guess not all lions are as jealous as my old man was. Their kids are lucky fucks.

But it doesn't bother me too much. Mostly because it is nonsense. Just because the father can hold something, does not mean the son can. He might be too weak. If you are weak, someone stronger can come and take your lionesses. And maybe that someone is me.

But, of course, until someone like me comes along, the rules tell the lionesses that the son should be king. They believe it, and it is so. And if the king is strong enough, no-one can challenge that. When Sarafina belonged to Mufasa, I could not take her - not for very long anyway - because he was stronger. He was a very strong lion, needless to say.

I had Sarafina once, but I could not keep her. I had to run, or Mufasa would have found me, and killed me. So I ran.

That's what I usually do. It is easier than taking over a pride, let alone keeping it.

It all happened a fair while ago. Afterward, I heard from Sarafina that Mufasa did not kill our child. He must have believed it was his. She was lucky – I have known lions to get jealous, and kill.

I also found out about something else, though. Mufasa is no longer king - in fact, he is dead . Now his brother is king, because his father was king also. Lion by the name of Scar. Mufasa's son would have been king, but he also died. You have to go back all the way to the second son of the grandfather of the son of Mufasa to make that work.

Rules tend to turn in on themselves quite a lot. Do not pay them too much heed.

This new king does not seem so strong. Maybe I can kill him. That was my first thought when I heard about the new king from a fellow rogue. We talk, mostly boasting, or reminiscing about a brother who has settled down after killing the leader of another pride. Sometimes talk about killing him in turn for his new pride.

Life among rogues tends to be brutal.

When I heard of this new king, I came down here as fast as I could – maybe this time, I could finally have Sarafina, forever. I'll I had to do was face a weak king, and steal Sarafina away from him.

If only it were that simple, I realize now.

For one, Sarafina does not wish to be taken. She is perfectly content belonging to a pride, and has no intention whatsoever of running off with me. What's worse, our child seems to have given her even more reason to stay glued to this patch of land. So she will not leave. I'm getting the impression that the only way I can have her back, is if I actually take over her entire pride.

It's all so tiresome!

But now that there is a new, weak king, taking over her entire pride seemed to be in reach, too. I made all kinds of plans! Maybe I could take the pride, have the lionesses call me king, and name a son of mine the next king! What a laugh! If I could keep it up until he was of age, I might talk him into keeping me safe from other rogues even in old age, all the while I kept having my fun with the lionesses...

A conservative dream to be sure, but I won't be the fit young lion I am now forever. Right now I can have any lioness I want now, in many different lands. But that won't last – at some point I will grow old and tired, and I will get nothing, grow hungry, and die. Being a king pushes that off for a long time if you have an heir to do the fighting for you.

You can even adopt one if you want to, invite over a less ruthless rogue in, and split the lionesses between you. That's a risky bet, though – why bother sharing anything with a useless old fool that's weaker than you, the young rogue might think.

Point is, I was thinking along those lines already, making plans for the future, thinking of what I will do when I grow old. Father an heir with Sarafina? Adopt some younger rogue? I lost sight of the fact that I did not have the pride or Sarafina yet. It was a bit of a shock when I found out that less had changed than I hoped, that I still couldn't have her.

Turns out the rumors about the weak king were true – but they had missed an important point. Let's write it down to the rules, this problem: the weak new king had broken the rules. And that caught me by surprise, honestly. I never even imagined the possibility – I suppose that I too am slave to a few rules.

What this king had done, was to bring in a bunch of hyenas.

I did not even consider the possibility before. Hyenas... they're a real nuisance. They also hold territory, and they won't allow any lions on it. So whenever you don't have an overly territorial lion chasing you anymore, you'll see those guys show up.

But somehow, somehow, this new king, this Scar-fellow, he convinced a gaggle of hyenas to take up with him and settle down in his territory. Suddenly not as weak anymore, when you've got a couple dozen of those poachers around.

I guess that at it's core, it's not that different from inviting in another rogue, except that you only split the food, and not the lionesses. Or so I assume – I don't really know what hyenas want.

So where does that leave me? Same place I always was. I'm still a rogue. And I still want Sarafina.

For now, I guess I'll just stick around and see what happens. I can't fight my way through all those hyenas and take on Scar, not alone. So I'll just hang out on the margins – this new king doesn't seem too concerned with paroling and policing his borders anyway.

I'll be outside, looking in. For now. I have a feeling things might change though – that's how the world works. I compared bringing in the hyenas with taking in a rogue. The risk of taking in a rogue, of course, is that he turns on you. That's how lions are.

I don't know much about them, but I'm not sure hyenas are any different.

* * *

 **author's notes: sorry for leaving so much time between updates! I wish I could get myself to write more regularly. Anyway, I see there's some new followers; I hope I don't let you down over the course of the story. Re the reviews of justsomeguy and ograndebatata: I'm very pleased with both your reactions; you felt something, something I more or less intended you to feel. This is where reviews are helpful; it helps me gauge if I'm managing to transmit my ideas in any meaningful manner.  
**


	16. Talk it over

**Talk it over**

The black-maned lion gazed at her impassively. He received her in the usual spot, the new throne-room, where he lay sprawled upon his perch in all his apathetic majesty. A blue hornbill sat nearby, fidgeting nervously, itching to intervene. But the hornbill knew better than to give in to that impulse by now, and held his tongue.

Silence hung heavy between them, until the black-maned lion cleared his throat.

"Ahem, well... I don't know what you expect me to do about it. What does it have to do with me? Those brats aren't mine in any case."

Sarabi flinched. Not that his answer surprised her; quite to the contrary. He said exactly what she expected him to say. More accurately, what she feared he'd say. Sarabi had grown quite used to it by now. Whatever she or anyone else brought before the king, the reaction would be the same: dismissal, occasionally mixed with indignation.

 _How dare you even bother me, the king, with your quotidian concerns?_

And he would send the petitioner away with a flick of the paw, leaving Zazu or Sarabi to deal with it.

Sarabi knew all this, she knew it even before she entered the throne-room. Yet she still went. A short bit of theater she had to play out time and time again. She would keep doing it, too – what else was she going to do? It was bad enough that they had to live with an indifferent king, but to openly admit that would be total catastrophe. Conscious of that fact, Sarabi would now try to convince the king to change his mind. He probably wouldn't be convinced, but it was her place to at least try.

"Scar, it _is_ your concern; this is your pride, and you are our king. Whatever goes on with us, you should be mindful of it..."

"But I am _mindful_ of it," Scar yawned, "Worry not, Sarabi, you've done your duty. Two kids got into one little fight, you duly informed me, and now I know..."

"Yet you do nothing!"

"Of course not, don't be foolish. This is hardly a matter for the king to busy himself with, you can't expect me to concern myself with every little trifle that comes along. So these two cubs had a little fight, bully for them. These things happen; I'm sure you and I got into a few tussles growing up, too."

Sarabi gnashed her teeth. Exactly as she predicted. She pressed on: "I think you don't appreciate the gravity of the situation, Scar. Chumvi beat Mheetu half to death, or near enough, and his mother is furious. This _trifle_ is creating serious discord among the lionesses. We're a big pride, and it's a small wonder we've gone without cliques for as long as we have... but if you don't step in now, that's exactly what's going to happen. Before you know it, the pride will split right down the middle; it starts with this little thing, but before you know it, it'll be something else, something worse..."

"Your alarmism has been noted," Scar grumbled, interrupting Sarabi. He'd begun flicking his tail back and forth midway through her speech, signaling annoyance, "And it's still none of my business. Fighting cubs, aggrieved mothers... these are all lionesses' affairs. I am the king, and I'll busy myself with kingly matters. You're perfectly well able to deal with the lionesses, so there is no need for you to come and bore me with all that talk of this lioness being angry at that lioness – heavens! All just dreadful old-wives' gossip..."

Scar ran a paw through his manes, and started stretching.

"But that's enough. I grow wary of your whining – you may go now..."

Sarabi sighed. It had done no good; only more dismissal, and vague insults. Scar's kingship was proving to be everything she'd expected it to be. Now less interested in getting Scar to engage with the lionesses than to just annoy him, she couldn't help but dole out a parting jab.

"You're right, Scar; we lionesses usually deal with these issues ourselves. But the one who really should take charge, is the queen. I don't suppose you've given any thought to..."

"Get out!"

Whenever the conversation touched on the fact that Scar had so far neglected to choose a queen for himself, and that he paid a lot less _attention_ to the lionesses than he should, he tended to get a little touchy. Sarabi calmly strode out, smiling faintly. But what little satisfaction she felt then evaporated as soon as she reached the plaza at the base of Priderock, where the other lionesses were gathered. They had coalesced in three groups, roughly representing those who backed Chumvi's mother Winda, those who sided with Mheetu's mother Kura, and those lionesses who didn't care either way and apathetically gazed out at the Pridelands while the others quibbled.

Naturally, Zira was in the third group. Her role in prodding Chumvi's darker side had been blissfully ignored, and the fuss caused by the fight between him and Mheetu filled her with nothing so much as detached amusement. Like watching a herd of zebra cross a stream filled with crocodiles – you can tell it's a momentous and fraught occasion for the participants, but at it's base it's nothing but stuff happening to other animals.

Sarabi took a big breath, straightened her back, and entered the fray. As with her tête-à-tête with Scar before, she very much dreaded having to navigate this social morass, but there was nothing else for it. As the queen-dowager, she was about the only lioness the others respected enough to be able to get both sides talking again.

Duty called.

Her first stop was Kura, Mheetu's mother, the aggrieved party. She was a stout and proud lioness, from the same stock as Sarabi and Sarafina. Currently, she was reiterating to her friends just what she thought of Chumvi's upbringing: she naturally found it lacking, implying that Winda in her old age had grown too frail to handle the pugnacious little rogue, leaving him to grow up wild and savage without a firm paw to straighten him out.

Her characterization was unfair on both accounts, towards Chumvi and Winda, in Sarabi's estimation, but that mattered little at present. She was not out to impose her viewpoint, only to try and restore some semblance of harmony to the pride. So she nodded along, hmmm-ed a few times, and frowned in silence on occasion, before gently trying to ease Kura into a more compromising stance. She pointed out that some of the things she'd heard about Mheetu's behavior had been rather disconcerting as well.

"Chumvi clearly went too far; from what I've heard there was no need for things to turn violent, and once a fight did break out, he should have restrained himself. There is never a good reason to do to a pridemate what Chumvi did to Mheetu. But from what I've heard, it seems like Mheetu wasn't entirely innocent himself..."

That mild suggestion was enough to bring an angry squint to Kura's eyes. Sarabi quickly got to the point, hoping to preempt an angry interruption.

"... because it seems he had been picking on little Nala throughout the day. What Chumvi did was obviously wrong, but maybe the way Mheetu treated Nala was what provoked him?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Kura snapped, "My son is obviously the victim here, why are you trying to put the blame on him?"

"I'm just trying to understand what happened..."

"What is there to understand? Winda's brat is a vicious rogue, that's all there is to it. The brute is just making things up so he can put the blame on my Mheetu..."

"Now, Kura, stay honest with me, okay? You know that's not true. It's not just Chumvi who's been saying that, it's Nala and Sarafina, too. You don't think they are making things up, do you?"

Sarabi and Kura locked eyes for a moment. Eventually, it was Kura who looked away, and she shot a rueful gaze at Sarafina, who had taken up position with Winda's clique across the plaza. She sighed audibly.

"No, I don't think Sara is making things up. But what they're saying, it just doesn't sound like my Mheetu..."

"It doesn't have to mean anything – Mheetu made a mistake, that's all. Doesn't mean he's a bad kid! Your son is just as likely to screw up at some point as any of them, that's what being young is all about, there doesn't have to be a deeper meaning. And what Mheetu did doesn't compare to how Chumvi abused him, that's for sure..."

"I sense there is a "but" coming."

"You know me too well," Sarabi smiled softly, "Kura, your son was hurt, I get that. But look around: is this what you want? We're all sisters, us lionesses, and we have to look out for one another. Every time we go out to hunt, we put our lives in each others' paws. But now, what's happening is that we have you and yours sitting over here, while Winda is all the way over there... I don't want to see our pride fracture like this. I'm sure you don't, either. I'm not putting any of this on you, by the way, I don't think this is your fault – I'm just asking you to help me. Help me put everything back together again."

"But if you don't think I'm in the wrong, how do you expect me to make things right?"

"I'm sure we can work something out. Would you be willing to apologize for the way Mheetu treated Nala, and for what you said about Winda and Chumvi? If I can get Chumvi and Winda to apologize in turn for what happened to Mheetu, get them to admit there's no excusing what Chumvi did?"

It was an invitation to compromise, plain as day. Mheetu and Kura would say a few words, ditto for Chumvi and Winda, all in clear view of the pride, and that would be that. Both parties admitted being in the wrong about something, and could take the others' admission as an opportunity to save face. It was always going to end like that; the alternative was either that they stayed mad at each other for ever, or that one side capitulated utterly. The former would be very bad news for the pride, and the latter unthinkable, given the hardheadedness of the lionesses.

Now that Sarabi's offer was out in the open, Kura mulled it over for a bit, ostentatiously putting on her thinking-face.

"Sure, I can live with that," she said eventually, "But it should be clear that regardless of what Mheetu might have done, it just doesnt compare to what Chumvi did. When they apologize, they have to make that clear. I want to hear them say it."

"I'll... I'll see what I can do," Sarabi frowned. Shifting more of the blame on Chumvi would of course make Winda less amenable to a compromise. Then again, she was the more easygoing party to the feud... Sarabi's thoughts were interrupted when Kura suddenly made an additional demand, however.

"Oh yeah, and my Mheetu has to agree to it first; my poor baby 's been hurt, and I'm not forcing anything on him he doesn't want..."

Sarabi cringed, and she suspected most of the other lionesses in earshot did so too. Even Kura's closest friends realized that whatever faults of character Mheetu was cursed with, it probably had something to do with Kura's parenting; she doted on him like he was a prince, and it spoiled the brat rotten. There was no fixing that now, though, and Sarabi was more concerned with the things she _could_ fix. So she abased herself with a sigh, and went to inquire what Mheetu thought of her proposition.

She found the cub near at paw, cowering behind his mother's back. It was an unusual sight: Mheetu wasn't one to ever show deference to anyone, bold and brash in his interactions with cubs and adult lions alike. To find him like this, shrinking back as Sarabi but looked at him, was a sight unseen. The queen-dowager considered she might have underestimated the severity of the trashing he'd received. Physically, though, he looked well enough, all things considered: scratches and bruises all over, a nicked ear, and a chipped fang - but nothing permanent, no broken bones.

There was something else going on, though, and Sarabi failed to notice it: Mheetu was alone. Even though both Kali and Zimua's moms joined with Kura's clique, the cubs themselves kept at some distance from Mheetu. He'd always been the center of attention before, but now suddenly found that the others avoided him.

When Sarabi asked him how he was doing, she expected the cub to start angrily venting about Chumvi. He didn't.

"Everything hurts," he mumbled, averting his eyes.

When asked if he was okay with apologizing to Nala if it meant Chumvi would apologize to him, his only reply was to ask if that meant the lionesses would keep Chumvi from hurting him again.

A vicious brat Mheetu might be, but at that moment Sarabi couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and she was starting to understand what it was that had so upset Kura – her son seemed to have taken the beating very badly. All the same, harsh as it may sound, the cub's well-being wasn't Sarabi's most pressing concern; getting the lionesses to end their squabbling was. She only needed Mheetu to agree with the proposed compromise – that he did so out of fear was regrettable, but but it would have to do.

When Kura then reaffirmed her intention to make up with Winda and Chumvi, Sarabi breathed a sigh of relief: getting Kura to agree to a truce was surely the hardest part, by far, and the other side of the bargain was left as a mere afterthought. Now flush with relaxed confidence, the queen-dowager promptly strode over to the other side of the plaza, to confront the Winda-partisans.

Winda lay stretched out, enjoying the afternoon-sun, with her son and daughter watchful at her side. She slowly got up when she noticed Sarabi approaching.

"I'm sure you think me a foolish old lioness," she began apologetically, "And you'd be right. I'm sorry for putting you through all this trouble, Sarabi."

"It's nothing I haven't seen before," Sarabi shrugged, "Besides, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself – I know Kura can be a bit... difficult."

"Don't get me started! Really, don't – I'm guessing that right now, the less said, the better it'll be?"

"You guessed right. What's happening between the two of you, it's bad for the pride..."

"I know, I know – and I'm sorry for making such a fuss over... well I suppose that to you it must look like it's a whole lot ado about nothing..."

… _b_ _ecause whatever happened,_ _at least Chumvi and Mheetu are_ _still alive?_

It remained unsaid, but Winda wasn't the first lioness to make that allusion: "my concerns don't compare to what you had to suffer through when Simba and Mufasa died."

Sarabi disliked that kind of talk on several levels. It wasn't just that it made for a painful reminder that indeed, Simba and Mufasa weren't with her anymore. No, it was the logic behind the remark that most irked Sarabi, how the other lionesses used it as a cover. It liberated them from having to admit they were wrong, allowed them to acquiesce to Sarabi's demands, not because it would be the right thing to do, but out of a perverted form of deference.

It was all the more jarring coming from a lioness like Winda, who had lost more cubs in her lifetime than most lionesses could expect to birth.

To Sarabi, what was right, was right, and what was wrong, was wrong. There was always a certain way things should be, and a way things should be done. Could be because of duty, virtue, tradition... But this idea that somehow, wrong could be made right just because someone happened to have suffered through something and held a different opinion... that personal suffering trumped objective truth... no! That's insanity.

Sarabi had long ago resolved that she would never think like that.

That being said, she wasn't about to berate Winda over it – that wouldn't be the right thing to do, either. Right now, it was Sarabi's place to try and bring the pride back together, and throwing a hissy fit over the finer points of argumentation and emotional manipulation would definitely not help with that. "The right thing to do" is only the right thing to do, all things considered – and being able to see that takes sound judgment and maturity. The former queen could usually manage that. Other unnamed lions, less so.

So for the greater good, Sarabi hid her annoyance and carried on the conversation unfazed: "It's quite all right. I'm not here to judge, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be this upset if it was really _nothing_ – so go ahead, Winda, get it off your chest."

"You're too kind, Sarabi..." The old lioness then sighed heavily, looking away, "You know, if she was just badmouthing me, I couldn't care less. But the things she said about my son! I mean, Sarabi, you know Chumvi – he's always been a kind and quiet boy, right? I'm not denying that he might have hurt Mheetu, but he wouldn't have done it if he didn't have his reasons! He's never been like this before, anyway, so something must have happened to set him off – it wouldn't make sense otherwise.

"And we even know what it is; little Nala told us. Mheetu has been terrorizing the poor dear, and my Chumvi stepped in to try and stop it. He didn't just attack Mheetu on a whim, or because of some grudge. But Kura, she won't have any of it! And not only does she refuse to see that Mheetu is at least as guilty here, she insists on calling my son names in front of the entire pride, she insults me as a mother, and last thing I heard she was even blaming my daughter for what happened! Sure, Wana was supposed to watch the cubs that day, but she and Zira intervened as soon as they noticed something was wrong...

"But Kura, she just goes on and on... She called my son a monster, Sarabi! He's not! Chumvi is a sweet kid, and I won't stand for it when she makes him out to be some kind of fiend..."

Giving Winda a chance to have her say felt like half of a resolution already for her part, Sarabi thought. And indeed, the older lioness looked and sounded really relieved when she was done speaking. The former queen figured now was as good a time as any to broach the deal she'd negotiated with Kura.

"Things have been said that should not have been said," she summarized, "That much is obvious. And, sadly, Kura can't unsay them even if she wanted to. But she can apologize. Would you be willing to put this whole affair to bed if she agreed to apologize?"

Winda nodded eagerly – that was all she wanted.

"But," Sarabi immediately cautioned, "You need to give Kura her due, too. Her son was mauled, and we can count ourselves lucky he hasn't suffered any permanent injuries. Chumvi did that – he might have had his reasons, but the blood is on his paws. He went too far, no matter what it was that provoked him. For that, he owes them an apology."

Again, Winda agreed without a second's thought, remarking that "it's only fair." How much more pleasant it was to work with her than with Kura, Sarabi mused – but even so, they were both her pride-sisters, and as the former queen it was not Sarabi's place to take sides. She had to keep the pride together, especially now that their king was acting so standoffish. With Winda's assent, she felt like she had succeeded, too...

"I won't do it."

The remark fell like thunder from a cloudless sky. All who heard turned their heads in shock.

Chumvi met their stares without blinking.

"Excuse me?" Sarabi asked commandingly, sounding very much like a queen would. Maybe she hadn't heard correctly, or maybe it was Chumvi who was misunderstanding.

"I said I won't do it. I won't apologize to Mheetu."

Now, there could be no doubt. Anyone looking at the scene presently unfolding would have been perfectly able to tell what was happening, even without hearing what was said: Chumvi sat rigidly upright, his back straitened, head held high, as Sarabi stood in font of him. He looked the former queen straight in the eyes.

Chumvi was defying Sarabi, and she was left dumbfounded

Now, while the young lion certainly struck an impressive pose, he wasn't quite nearly as sure of himself as he looked right then. He was very much acting on impulse, and making things up as he went along, from his facial expression to his posture. Just under the surface, his thoughts were racing, his heart was pounding like mad, and all kinds of conflicting feelings battled for supremacy. Chumvi had never done this before, after all; it wasn't like him to stand up to his elders, let alone a former queen.

Yet here's what he knew with certainty: he wasn't going to apologize. He didn't feel sorry, and he was convinced he had nothing to apologize for.

* * *

Sarabi licked her lips, uncertain as to how she would proceed now. This was most unexpected. When she set out to reconcile the pride, she'd been prepared to have trouble convincing Kura and Mheetu especially. But Chumvi objecting, that was not something she had counted on. She knew the young lion well enough to tell this wasn't like him at all – Chumvi should normally just go along to get along. Yet here he was, staring her down. The former queen wasn't the only one surprised at this turn of events – pretty much everyone who knew anything at all about Chumvi, and could hear him now, was taken aback.

None more so than Nala: the you cub stared at Chumvi in wide-eyed disbelief. What happened to the placid youngster she remembered, who would look away abashedly when the other cubs picked on her? Now he was beating Mheetu into the dirt one day, staring down the former queen the next...

Sarafina was quick to pick up on the way her daughter looked at Chumvi. It made her see the youngster in a new light, too: the way he sat there, fearlessly, even proudly facing Sarabi, as a light breeze stirred his fledgling black mane... It was the first time she saw him not as a cub, but as a lion. A lion who, it seemed, would go out of his way to keep Nala safe.

* * *

"Chumvi..." Sarabi started, after a long, tense silence, "I understand that you and Mheetu don't exactly get along right now... and it's true that he might not have always been the nicest of lions..."

"Then why do you want me to apologize?" Chumvi interrupted.

At this point, the former queen found herself gritting her teeth. Once the sheer surprise wore off, she quickly felt herself growing angry at the impudence of the youngster. Maybe he didn't want to do what he was told – fine. But the way he was acting now was just rude; she was still his elder, and a former queen to boot. But once again, Sarabi decided not to let her feelings dictate her behavior. Restoring peace to the pride was all that mattered. She had indulged Kura's lack of self-awareness, and she could do the same for Chumvi.

"Because you overreacted. So you think Mheetu is a meanie – fine. But he's still a member of our pride, and your brother because of it. What you did to him, you don't do that to a pridemate. You could have well killed him if the lionesses didn't stop you!"

Chumvi swallowed, and narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He was wearing out Sarabi's patience. She decided to try another approach.

"Look, Chumvi... Do you see this? The lionesses way over there, where Mheetu is? Maybe you don't think you did anything wrong, but they sure do, and you won't convince them otherwise just by sitting here, looking grim. We're all part of the same pride, and it won't do to have us be divided over this. I don't care who's wrong and who's right – keeping the pride together is bigger than that. You want to act all grown up? Fine, but go all the way: it means swallowing your pride every once in a while, for the greater good.

"Now... apologize to Mheetu!"

* * *

 _So, what do I do now?_

Chumvi got the sinking suspicion he might have about pushed things as far as he could. He lodged a protest against Sarabi's proposition, and clearly made his feelings in the matter known. The former queen even went as far as to admit that, in a way, maybe he was indeed in the right.

But then she ordered him to bow down to Mheetu anyway.

He still didn't want to, but now he found himself under orders. Was that as far as his power went, he wondered? Was there any more he could do? Well, he could just keep on refusing – but what would happen to him then? What would Sarabi do? What exactly is it a former queen does, anyway? She was strutting around, all self-important, but who was Sarabi to tell him to do anything? She wasn't the king. She did not own the pride; she was not even the queen anymore.

Chumvi pulled away from Sarabi's piercing gaze, and looked at the other lionesses. All eyes were on him, and he was surprised to realize just how anxious everyone looked – some even seemed a bit fearful. Everyone was waiting to see what Chumvi would do. All his life, he'd always followed someone else's lead, but now, for the first time, it seemed like the whole world had stopped turning, waiting for him to decide.

The feeling was overwhelming, terrible, awful, nauseating.

It felt good. Like he was in a sense all-powerful. Was this how kings felt?

Chumvi could no longer stop himself. He decided to measure up his power against that of the former queen.

"Now... apologize to Mheetu!"

"Make me."

Next thing he knew, Chumvi was lying on the ground, dazed. He could feel the side of his muzzle burning hot. A trickle of blood ran down his nose.

Winda was standing over him with her paw still upraised, the tips of her claws glistening red. Her face was contorted to an angry snarl. Then, sniffing dismissively, she turned away from her son, and towards a wide-eyed Sarabi. She threw herself at the former queen's paws.

"Sarabi, I don't know what's gotten into my son – he's never been like this before! It's unacceptable, the way he talked to you. I'm sorry! And if he won't apologize, I'll do it his stead – to you, to Kura, to Mheetu – whatever you want me to do, I'll do it..."

And that was the end of it. After angrily shouting at her son for a good while - he had nothing to say in response - Winda prostrated herself before Kura and Mheetu, and they, having seen just what they were dealing with in Chumvi, quickly agreed to leave well enough alone. Peace returned to the pride, of a sort.

Or so it seemed to most of the lionesses. But Sarabi wasn't fooled. She was of course grateful that Winda had stepped in and put her son in his place, and then went on to mend fences with Kura – she'd humiliated herself and lost face, all so the others could keep theirs. But that was just about appearances, and Sarabi was perceptive enough to be able to look beyond that.

She didn't like what she saw. It struck her when she crossed eyes with Chumvi, while his mother was over apologizing to Kura. Despite what the fresh scar that now cut across his muzzle would have you think, Chumvi came out of the whole mess not having given an inch. He remained unrepentant, and for what Sarabi was concerned, dangerously unhinged. There are few things more dangerous than a lion beholden to nothing, or no-one.

Sarabi looked away from Chumvi, and turned her gaze towards Priderock. From down below, this late in the afternoon, the entrance to the throne-room loomed like a dark void. Scar still hadn't emerged. Sarabi hung her head, and sighed.

* * *

When Winda went over to Kura for her apology-tour, the lionesses that had taken her side in the spat did likewise, as if to symbolize the reforged unity of the pride. Chumvi was left alone on the far side of the plaza, pondering the choices that had landed him there. His first thought was that he had made a horrible mistake in gratuitously confronting Sarabi; he'd let his delusions of grandeur get to his head, and was now left a pariah.

Maybe it was still possible to come crawling back, apologize, and resume being the same old amicable Chumvi everybody remembered?

Someone cleared her throat nearby. Chumvi looked up to see Sarafina pacing towards him. She sat down right in front of him, and extended a paw towards his muzzle. He recoiled a bit when she touched the now-puffy wound.

"She didn't hold anything back, did she? Are you all right, Chumvi?"

"It's fine – I've had worse," he lied.

Sarafina flashed an inscrutable smile – she could, of course, see straight through him. Yet she didn't remark on it.

"Chumvi... I'm sure I've told you this before, but... thank you for looking out for Nala. Some of the other lionesses might look at you sideways for what you did, but I'll be forever grateful. With all that's recently happened to the pride, I've become fearful of what the future might hold... but, knowing that you're watching over my daughter helps me sleep easier...

"Chumvi, please, promise me that, whatever might happen next, you'll keep looking out for my Nala."

And so Chumvi made up his mind.

* * *

 **author's notes: neat, another follower!**


	17. Lazy day

**preface: so, yeah, I've been out of it for a while - kind of reflected in the opening of the chapter, and the title. No excuses that I can think of. If anyone's still out there reading, I do intend to finish this story (though intentions, like promises, are cheap). Thanks for sticking with me, I know I don't make it easy.**

* * *

 **Lazy day**

The zebra went about their day. They didn't seem to mind the heat as much, didn't bother to look for shade. One zebra would bring his head down to the grass, nibble a bit, pull his head back up, shuffle forward, and do it all over again. Dozens of them doing the same thing, an entire herd, slowly inching forward. Hard to tell them apart from a distance, just a great mass of ever shifting white and black stripes. Every time any of them moved, the combined pattern would change. And all the while, the entire picture would shimmer, distorted by the early morning heat. Almost hypnotic.

Kuzinga yawned. He felt like he could watch the zebra like that all day, comfortably perched in the shade of a low tree. And why not? He didn't have anything else to do. A quiet day. Lately, pretty much every day was a quiet day.

It was a nice change of pace. It had been about a year since Scar allowed the hyenas into the Pridelands, but it was only the last few days that Kuzinga had actually realized just how lucky he was to be living there. It's hard to enjoy the simple things if you have a lot of stuff on your mind, and are constantly having to watch your back.

That had ended abruptly, though – from one day to the next, Kuzinga's worries had all gone away. Not in the most pleasant way possible, mind you, but once he got over the shock of it all, everything seemed to come into perspective again.

He was young and healthy hyena, member of a large and powerful clan allied to the local lion pride, living in a land of unimaginable natural beauty and wealth. Plentiful food, little danger, good weather, nice enough folks. He could have done a lot worse for himself.

He yawned again.

A lot worse. He'd been out on his own and without a territory to call home twice before.

What he remembered most clearly from those times, was just how scary it was to go to sleep. If you don't have your own place, you're always at risk of intruding on someone else's, and there are close to no hiding spots that don't bear the markings of at least one former occupant. It's hard closing your eyes when you're harboring the suspicion that they might show up while you're sleeping. Never a moment's peace. And that's not even getting into the myriad troubles of food, drink, and all the borders crossed without permission.

Definitely a lot better now, no right to complain.

A fly crawled down Kuzinga's muzzle, drawn by some dried blood he'd missed while cleaning up after yesterday's meal. He ignored the insect, in stead choosing to reminisce about said meal.

It had been a day much like the present one, with Kuzinga having done, planning to do, and doing absolutely nothing. Then he'd spotted the vultures, three of them, circling rapidly in a tight circle – every hyena knows that's tell-tale sign of a meal, if you can get there in time.

He got there in time. Wherever death is afoot, there'll be vultures, so just going by them is a bit of a gamble; if you get lucky, they've eyed an easy meal, like a stillborn calf, or a mortally wounded grazer. Less lucky, and you end up right in the middle of a troupe of lions on the prowl. If it's the latter case, you might well end up being the one that's on the vultures' menu – though mercifully, the chance of that happening was much lessened now that he lived in the Pridelands.

Yesterday, tough, following the vultures had payed of handsomely. A young zebra buck, still a foal probably, suddenly found dead, with no other predators around. And fresh as fresh can be – none of the vultures had even moved in yet, probably not entirely sure their query was in fact deceased. Kuzinga wasn't entirely sure himself at first; no smell yet, no clear wounds, … like the zebra was sleeping – minus the breathing; the vultures really should have picked up on that one.

Finding a carcass like that, without having to hunt, without expending any energy... it doesn't get any better than that. And finding it first! That's usually the trickiest part; all hyenas know to watch the vultures, so more often than not, you get to the meal only to discover there's company. When you're only a lowly male like Kuzinga, that means getting in the back of the line, too. The girls get all the choice cuts, and he eats the scraps.

But not yesterday – with no-one else around, it was finally Kuzinga's turn; he tore open the taut skin of the zebra's belly and gorged himself on all the gooey goodness inside. The liver was exquisite. He eventually had to stop eating, not because others chased him off, but because he was close to throwing up. He still felt bloated the day after. Such was life in the Pridelands.

Kuzinga had no right to complain. Definitely not.

Still, he felt uneasy. Quietly eating and sleeping the days away was certainly a step up from a rogue, clanless existence. No longer needing to spy on the lions for Shenzi did wonders for his peace of mind.

Yet now that he was freed of all those troubles, he couldn't help like feeling he lost something important along the way. No sense of purpose, nowhere he needed to get to.

Kuzinga got up, annoyed with own thoughts. He needed a walk, midday heat be damned.

 _You're an idiot_ , he thought, _Go back in time and try asking your old self what he would like best: purpose, or a full stomach. If he preferred living in constant fear, or ennui._

Valid points all, though it didn't do much for his mood. He resolved to check out a nearby watering hole; maybe a drink of water, or rolling around in the mud for a bit would cheer him up. As he walked by them, a few of the zebra looked up, but they paid him little heed. A lone, lethargic hyena wasn't much cause for concern.

There's wasn't much left of the watering hole: where the water had once reached to the roots of the trees surrounding it, now there was a flat expanse of bare earth, dark and cracked. By all accounts, the dry season should have ended nearly two months ago, but in stead the Pridelands were subjected to yet another day of scorching heat. It was starting to show; what little vegetation was left had turned dry and brittle, and a watering hole that normally provided clear water all year round had been reduced to a muddy dump. No cause for concern, though: the Pridelands were bountiful enough that it's inhabitants could weather a year of drought without much discomfort.

Kuzinga quickly skipped across the blistering outer layers of dried mud, and was relieved when his paws finally sank away in the cooler muck closer to the center. He plodded on towards the small puddle of miry water. He wasn't exactly thirsty, but couldn't think of anything better to do. Him lapping up the water was the only sound to be heard inside the small clearing.

"Kuzinga! There you are, you useless, lying sack of..."

 _Uh-oh._

Kuzinga turned towards the source of the shouting. Across from the onetime-watering hole stood another hyena, slightly bigger than him, squat nosed, with her tail and manes angrily upraised. She growled as he looked up.

 _Why do I keep running into her?_

"Hasira? What are..."

Before he could even finish his question, she started charging at him. When that sort of thing happens, it's usually a good idea to just run away, rather than stick around to try and find out what all the fuss is about. So Kuzinga did - or tried to, anyway: he hadn't accounted for the terrain, and soon after turning around he stumbled when his paws got stuck in the mud. Hasira, meanwhile, had taken to moving forward in short hops. Very tiresome, and less than gracious, but she did quickly close in on on her query. Kuzinga was still fumbling to get up when she bumped into his backside, sending him face-first into the mud again.

Before he had time to react, Hasira jumped on top of him and clamped his neck between her jaws. In stead of biting down further, though, she angled his face back down into the dirt. Kuzinga struggled to breathe with his nose and mouth full of muck, but because she had a hold of his neck there was only so much he could do without further hurting himself. He desperately kicked and scrambled around with all fours. When he finally got hold of Hasira's legs with his left-paws, he quickly put all strength he had into sweeping at those, while kicking up with his right-paws.

A gulp of air, then a lot of coughing.

Hasira didn't have much energy left after her sprint through the mud, and she couldn't keep Kuzinga from tearing free of her jaws. She broke some skin in the process, though, and the shallow wound quickly filled up with dirt and hair as Kuzinga half-rolled, half-crawled away from Hasira.

Both hyenas ended up lying on their side in the mud some distance apart, panting heavily.

"Y-you're... you're insane! Madwoman! Coulda – coulda killed me!"

"You're a... lying... piece of trash," Hasira growled, still gasping for breath, "But you put up a good fight, I'll give you that."

"Ge... get bent," Kuzinga coughed.

They lay in silence for a while, catching their breath as the sun mercilessly beat down. Hasira was the first to get up, shakily.

"It's too damn hot for this, lets get out of the sun..."

Figuring this whole thing had been her maladroit way of telling him she wanted to have a little talk, Kuzinga got up too and followed. He was careful to keep his distance, though. They ambled over to the nearest tree that hadn't been picked clean of leaves yet. When Hasira settled down, Kuzinga did so too, a little bit further away.

"What's the matter, afraid I'll bite?"

"Yes."

Hasira grunted, not quite a laugh. After that, they sat in silence for a while, careful not to look at one another. Kuzinga was the first one to speak up again.

"So, what was that all about?"

"Humpf, like you don't know..."

Kuzinga sighed. Only a few days ago, he had confessed to a girl in Hasira's clique that he befriended them only to get close to a lion-acquaintance of theirs, and the confession had not gone over well.

"I guess Mizuri told you, then..."

"Of course not," Hasira snarled, "She knew that if she told me, I'd get so angry I'd want to rip your guts out..."

Kuzinga's heart skipped a beat when he heard. That meant Mizuri still had some regard for him, right? Then again, maybe she was just being a nice and decent hyena, like she always was...

"However, Nyeusi _did_ tell me, for the same reason."

"Well it's good to know I have a friend in her."

"Don't get coy. You're the bad guy in all this, you don't get to make light of it."

"Sorry."

"So is it true? What Nyesui told me?"

"Dunno, what'd she tell you? That Shenzi wanted me to spy on the lions? That I though getting close to you guys would help with that? That I'm an opportunistic liar?" Kuzinga had started of sneeringly, but his tone became more repentant as he went: "'Cause... yeah... that sounds about right."

"Unbelievable..."

"Sorry."

"Disgusting! You lying piece of filth! You, you..."

Kuzinga looked down, frowning. Not much he could say to that.

"And to think I called you my friend!"

"What?" Kuzinga's ears perked up, "We weren't friends, you hated me all along!"

When he looked up, Hasira was suddenly in front of him, her paws wide apart in a fighting stance. But the look on her face belied that belligerent pose.

"Idiot! What do you know? You don't know anything! You lead us around like that, and now you act like it was nothing? All of it a lie, and none of it meant anything? What about last time, when you did me a solid and spent that evening with Noki? Don't tell me that was an act, too – I could tell there was something genuine there..."

He hadn't expected that from Hasira. The sudden realization that he managed to hurt even her made him, above all else, angry.

"No, it obviously wasn't _all_ a lie," Kuzinga shot back, "I did fess up, didn't I? Wouldn't have done that if it didn't mean anything. That's why I did what I did; Mizuri's friendship, and even the lionesses', it felt... precious. I dunno. Important enough that I felt I couldn't go on like I was. So I confessed... I already told you I'm sorry, all right? What more do you want from me?"

"Oh, shove it! Don't act like you care now!"

"But I do! I'm sorry I lied to Mizuri, and I'm sorry I lied to you."

"You sure don't act like it," Hasira snapped, "Telling me you're sorry – ha! Oh yeah, you fessed up all right – and then you up and disappear on us! Until I bumped into you just now, we hadn't heard from you in days! Is that what being sorry means to you, that you give a little heartfelt speech, and then cut us off? Go to hell!"

Kuzinga opened his mouth, but no sounds came out.

"What, nothing to say?"

"I... I just..." He struggled to come up with something to say, and eventually looked away, embarrassed: "I dunno, I just didn't think you wanted to have anything to do with me after, you know... that you all preferred I just stayed away."

"You're an idiot."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"And what's worse, you're a coward! Didn't think we wanted anything to do with you? What, you can read minds now? You don't get to decide that for us! Wanna know what I think? I think you were just scared to face us, and so you tried hiding. But guess what? You can't hide from me – not after you hurt my friends, after you hurt me."

Kuzinga said nothing, still looking away. Suddenly, Hasira put a paw on his head and pushed him. He stumbled backward a bit, without falling over, and gave her an annoyed glare.

"Idiot," she grinned, "So... if not hiding, what have you been up to, then?"

"Not much. Eating and sleeping, mostly."

"That all? Pretty pathetic."

"Obviously you've never been without a clan," Kuzinga grumbled, "For someone who's out in the wild, a full stomach and a safe place to sleep, it's what they imagine paradise is like."

"Whatever you say, loser. Sounds boring to me, just out here on your own, with no company. Good thing I showed up, before you became a lazy old recluse."

"I'm only a few years older than you are, you know..."

"Whatever. Right now, what you need to do, is to get back out there. I already kicked your ass just now, so don't worry – you've got out of the way now. But if you were really serious about all that touchy-feely stuff just now, you're gonna have to prove it."

"What does that even mean?"

"Why are you asking me for advice, it's your life. Here's a thought, though: you know who's been asking about you lately? Noki. Seems like the little guy is still as lonely as he was before. You obviously don't have anything better to do, so why don't you spend some more time with the little brat. You're both kinda pathetic, anyway – it's a great fit!"

"He hasn't made any new friends in the meantime, huh?" Kuzinga wondered.

Hasira shook her head. "No – and how could he have, anyway? There's not that many cubs in the clan at any one time, so no opportunities to make new acquaintances – once the others have decided you don't fit in, I don't think it's easy to come back from that."

Kuzinga looked at Hasira with a quizzical squint.

"What?"

"Dunno... I just didn't remember you being this... insightful."

"Oh, I'm just all brawn and no brains to you, then? You're a real charmer, you know that?"

"Sorry, it's just that I mostly remember the bullying..."

"Eh, you shouldn't take that too personally," Hasira shrugged, "When others hyenas are around, I have to show that I'm in charge... that's what my mom keeps telling me, anyway. When we're just chatting one-on-one, I don't lay it on as thick."

"Huh. Sounds tiresome."

"Whatever. Why is this suddenly about me, anyway? We were going to bring you back into clan-life, so don't try and distract me. Come one, let's see what the action is at the nest..."

In truth, Kuzinga would have been perfectly fine with a few more days alone out in the boonies, and he wasn't actually looking forward to interacting with other hyenas all that much. He still trotted after Hasira once she got up to leave, though. Part of it was just doing what he was told, yet he couldn't help but feel like some of her nervous energy was rubbing off on him, too.

Hasira was right about being a lot more tolerable of a companion in isolation; she kept chatting all the way to the nest, only sporadically insulting Kuzinga. He did get the impression at one point that she was trying to make him jealous: she wouldn't stop talking about how Mizuri and Nyeusi had been hanging out with a young male called Tatu. _Doesn't ring a bell_. It's that fellow with straw-colored manes. _Oh yeah, him – blonde hyenas are a pretty rare sight. Whatever, they can do what they want with their time, hang out with whomever._

Kuzinga remembered being in a fight with him not too long ago.

As so often happens, Kuzinga bumped into some old acquaintances on the way to the den. Banzai and Ed were lying in the shade of a rock, only half awake, seemingly having their very own do-nothing-day. Kuzinga gave them a polite enough greeting, but Hasira only grunted dismissively. Seems like she'd put on he social-face again.

Banzai sprung awake and blurted out: "Hey Kuz', what's up with you?"

"Not much," Kuzinga yawned.

"Come, let's go on to the den - don't waste our time with these losers," Hasira interrupted. Kuzinga never did quite figure out what their status in the clan was, but Hasira sure didn't seem to think much of them.

"You go ahead - don't worry, I'll be right over!" he replied, much to Hasira's chagrin.

"I told you to pay a visit to Noki," she growled, "Are you trying to disappear on me again?"

"No, I mean it, I'll be right over! Besides, you wanted to get me talking to other hyenas again, right? Well, that's what I'm doing."

"Humpf! Well don't take too long – if you don't show, I'll kill you for real next time." With those reassuring words, Hasira ambled off towards the den.

"Man, you got some nerve standing up to that bossy brat," Banzai commented as soon as she was out of earshot.

"It's not a big deal, we're on friendly terms – kinda," Kuzinga shrugged.

"Really? Don't look that way to me. Still, it's cool you'd do that just to have a chat with us!"

"Yeah, well, I was feeling a bit guilty, to be honest. I remember blowing you off a couple of days back, when you asked me if I wanted to hang out. So it didn't feel right just walking by without as much as a word."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Banzi frowned, "What was up with that, huh?"

"Was a having a really bad day then. I'd gotten into a nasty fight, and then a girl that was, you know, into me, became angry after I confessed something. All of that had just happened, so I wasn't feeling especially generous..."

"Oh. That makes sense – it's like a heartache kinda thing!"

"I wouldn't exactly go that far..."

"Nah, man, don't worry, I totally get it!" Banzai nodded with startling sincerity, "Love hurts. Just let it all out – it's just us guys here, no need to hide your feelings or anything."

Ed had gotten up in the meantime, too, and was listening with his head cocked to one side. Judging by the vacant stare in his eyes, Kuzinga didn't think the other hyena understood much if anything of what was being said.

"Yeah... 'fraid I'll have to pass on that one. Though I have to say, Banzai, I didn't have you pegged as a romantic kinda guy like that..."

"Shows you how little you know! So what was up with you and Hasira? Rejected by one girl and on to the next? That's pretty cold, man."

Kuzinga made a disgusted face. "Heavens forbid! She was actually out to hunt me down, or near enough..."

He regaled his two new companions with a quick rundown of his violent encounter with Hasira earlier, and then tried to repeat all the things she'd tried to explain to him about friendship and repentance and whatnot. Naturally, he butchered the more poignant second half, but Banzai and Ed were so entertained by the tale of the farcical mud-fight that they didn't mind.

"... so now I'm on my way to keep Noki company for a bit, under slight duress."

After having explained to them just who Noki was and why he might need some company, Banzai asked if he and Ed might come along. Why not, the more the merrier. They weren't exactly the brightest stars at the firmament, but after a little chat Kuzinga pegged them as pleasant enough company. Very enthusiastic, if nothing else.

As they were walking, Banzai couldn't help but notice Kuzinga's scars, and the way one of his backpaws dragged ever so slightly, "Kuz', I gotta ask you something: why is it that every time we meet, it seems like you just got out of a fight? I mean, I've met worse hyenas, so why are you always the one getting into trouble?"

"Beats me – ask the other guys..."

"That how you got all those scars, fighting all the time?"

"Didn't Shenzi ask that already, the first time we met?" Kuzinga recalled, annoyed, "You know, when you guys were threatening me and all..."

"I don't remember ever doing that – do you, Ed?" The dopey hyena shook his head. "Come on, tell us again!"

Their convenient amnesia should have angered Kuzinga, but he was in a forgiving mood. It actually felt kinda nice, having the duo listening attentively as he dug up old war stories from his time in the wilderness, and with the other clan. It feels good when others listen to what you have to say. Going like that, it felt like their voyage over to the den - which was actually quite a ways away - flew by in an instant.

They arrived to find Hasira in a foul mood – she resented having to wait for them, even if only for a little while. It was hardly a fair complaint; the trio had strutted along at a decent enough pace, and never stopped along the way. But she still chewed them out for being useless lazybones. Recalling her earlier confession that her public chagrin was mostly an act, Kuzinga took it in stride.

As Noki was once again preoccupied with hiding in the deep recesses of the den, Hasira went inside to go try and find him, while the others waited outside. There were few other hyenas around at this hour, all of them either half or fully asleep. Noontime was too hot for doing much of anything, be it hunting or intensive socializing, so there was no real need for anyone to be at the den. The other members of the clan were all spread out over the Pridelands, alone or with close friends or relatives.

The only real activity came from a gaggle of cubs playfighting nearby, under the not-so-watchful eye of a drowsy older matron. The little ones were going at it pretty hard, and Kuzinga wouldn't be surprised if they drew blood at some point. He remembered vanishingly little from his own cubhood, but was pretty sure they'd never played quite that rough. It was just Noki's luck to be born as a gentle cub amid a particularity wild batch...

Kuzinga got distracted from watching the cubs by a particularity bad itch on his neck. Instinctively, he started scratching with one of his backpaws, remembering too late that was where Hasira's teeth had broken skin. He grunted from the pain of accidentally opening up the wound again.

Ed, quicker on the uptake from a life of being relegated to the realm of nonverbal communication, noticed immediately, and in turn nudged Banzai.

"You all right, Kuz'?"

"It's fine. Just hurts a bit where Hasira bit me, 's all."

Unbidden, Banzai moved in to get a closer look.

"Gross, it's all full of hair and dirt! No wonder it hurts, you didn't even clean it!"

"Of course I didn't, how am I even supposed to get at it – look!" Kuzinga grumbled, illustrating his point by fruitlessly turning his head and trying to reach the cut with his tongue, all the while making a dumb face and ditto sound.

"Say no more!" Banzai interrupted him, "I mean, what else are guyfriends for, right? Ed, help a brother out!"

Before Kuzinga could register what was going on, the dopey hyena was already slobbering all over his neck. He quickly backed away: "Wow, buddy, no offense, but..."

"Don't worry, Kuz'," Banzai was quick to reassure him, while suddenly popping up on the other side, effectively sandwiching Kuzinga between him and Ed, "Ed's as clean as they come – just look at those teeth! All sparkly... yellow... Anyway, he might not be good for much, but if you want something licked, Ed's your man!"

All of that, not least Banzai's choice of words, made Kuzinga rather uncomfortable. That subsided once he felt Ed's raspy tongue starting to clean out the wound, though: he went about his task firmly, yet with surprising finesse, and the pain and itch were quickly subsumed by a pleasant numbness. Kuzinga let out a relieved sigh.

"Well you losers sure seem to be enjoying each others' company – you're already that desperate about replacing Mizu, Kuzinga?"

Hasira had reappeared in front of him, grinning widely. Hiding between her paws was Noki, wide-eyed as ever, looking up at the trio with something approaching awe.

"Well, if it's between you and him, I know whom I would pick," Kuzinga shot back.

"Keep dreaming, idiot, I'm way out of your league. Anyway, here's Noki – keep him entertained for the rest of the day, and stay out of trouble. I can't stick around, though; I heard my mom was looking for me, so you can make it a guys' day out, or whatever."

Without further ado, and without as much as acknowledging Banzai and Ed, Hasira trotted off again, leaving Noki standing a bit forlorn by himself.

"Yeah, that's right, walk away!" Banzai commented as soon as she was out of earshot, "What's her problem, huh?"

"She's all right, I'm pretty sure it's mostly just for show," Kuzinga yawned, "So... Noki, little buddy! How've you been?"

He tussled the cub's paltry mane unbidden. Noki shied away.

"F-fine..."

"You're not worried about these two bozos, are you? Don't worry, they're harmless enough – I think. Truth be told, I don't know them all that well myself yet. But we've still got a whole afternoon to get acquainted."

He quickly introduced everyone, trying to be as confident and enthusiastic as possible, hoping some of it would rub off on Noki. That seemed to work well enough; the cub ventured a shy smile when all was said and done. Kuzinga figured there was little point in asking if there was anything in particular he wanted to do that afternoon, as the cub would probably be too timid to propose anything out loud. In stead, he immediately ventured his own suggestion: taking a plunge in the watering hole – the big one, that is, which never ran dry.

Banzai and Ed signed off on the idea immediately and enthusiastically, while Noki's silence was taken for consent. So off the merry band went.

Hoping to get there as quickly as possible, Kuzinga offered Noki a ride on his back; it wouldn't do for the cub to have to try and keep up on those stumpy little legs of his. When he bowed down so Noki could get on, though, Ed became agitated. In his own inscrutable way, he made it clear that Noki should hitch a ride with him in stead. Although the cub was understandably hesitant, Kuzinga just shrugged, picked Noki up by the scruff of his neck, and deposited him on Ed's shoulders. Though the youngster looked quite anxious, Ed himself seemed overjoyed. And whatever his misgivings about the dopey hyena might be, Kuzinga thought the pair looked adorable.

With the one cub in the party riding desant, it wasn't long before they reached the watering hole. What's more, Banzai had managed to keep on chatting throughout the trip, cracking one joke after another. None of those were particularly funny or smart, but it still served to generate a very positive vibe; even Noki eventually joined the conversation, interrogating the adults about whatever they happened to be passing by or talking about at the time, prompting some creative - though not necessarily truthful - answers.

 _Why do leopards spend so much time in the trees? Because the ground hurts their paws; it gets too hot. Tree trunks meanwhile are always shaded by leaves._

The watering hole was particularly crowded that day, a common occurrence now that the rainy season took so long to arrive. A variety of prey-animals were there, and two elephants, towering above all.

Upon spying all the grazers that were lapping at the water or simply wandering around the clearing surrounding the pool, Ed suddenly went into a frenzy. Seeming to momentarily forget about the passenger he was carrying, he bolted forward, sprinting towards a nearby gaggle of antelope. Noki was taken by surprise, and tumbled backwards off Ed's back with a yelp. The antelope, meanwhile, panicked and started running every which way, in turn spooking other nearby animals, who the also broke into a run without really knowing why they should.

The scene around the watering hole almost immediately turned into a chaotic fracas, with dozens of fleeing prey kicking up a dust cloud, only adding to the confusion.

"Hey, what the hell?" Kuzinga shouted, bounding over to Noki, to make sure he wasn't hurt. The cub was fine, however, having landed safely, if slightly ignominiously, on his butt.

"Woohoo! Yeah! Go get 'em, Ed!" Banzai encouraged his friend, after which he too started chasing after an errant Zebra, "Come on, Kuz, let's have some _fun_!"

 _Are they just chasing after those animals for their amusement?_ Kuzinga briefly wondered, gaping at the others. Yes, they were. And they seemed to be having a ball of a time of it, too – they made it seem positively thrilling. Kuzinga quickly led Noki over to a nearby tree, reasoning he'd be safe from trampling hooves there – prey generally avoid running into trees – before he himself too set out to chase after the first grazer he could find.

It was an utterly pointless endeavor if there ever was one; chasing just for the sake of chasing, causing a stir just for the heck of it, kicking up dust just because you can. And it _was_ fun, in a naive, carefree kind of way. Who cares if the prey gets away, who cares if you get tired, or slip and stumble? That's the point, tiring yourself out for the heck of it!

After nearly all other animals had fled the scene, the three hyenas teamed up and chased the last, deathly frightened wildebeest straight towards the steepest edge of the pond. By the time the massive beast figured out where it was heading, it was already too late to make a complete stop, and it skidded right over the edge, into the water. It went under with an incredible splash, drenching Banzai, who'd come to a stop closest to the water. Both Kuzinga and Ed burst out laughing at the pitiable sight of him, and soon found themselves on the ground gasping for breath.

"Oh man," Kuzinga sighed once he'd come to a bit again, "You were right, Banzai. That was fun!"

Banzai shook himself dry. "Told ya... Hey, Ed, where are you off to?"

Ed promptly returned, carrying Noki in his jaws and depositing the cub in front of the others.

"Oh yeah – sorry I left you out there for a bit, bud," Kuzinga apologized, "I guess I got a bit carried away... Say, do you know how to swim yet?"

Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent variously getting Noki accustomed to the water, rolling around in the mud, and jumping off the highest rock they could find, trying to make as big a splash as possible, or striking a silly pose while doing it. Although it took the cub a while to get into the groove, anxious as he was about pretty much everything, he turned out yo be a natural swimmer, and was soon chirping joyously while paddling around in the water.

Of the three adults, Ed was the most enthusiastic about playing with Noki, exhibiting an almost childlike enthusiasm for whatever silly game they came up with between them. At some point, while the two of them seemed to be having the time of their life in the water, Banzai and Kuzinga ended up back on dry land together, having a breather while watching the others.

"Ed really seems to be enjoying himself," Kuzinga yawned, just to make conversation.

"No kidding! Makes sense though, he's basically just a cub that's grown a couple o' sizes too big. He's always been like that."

"Oh? You've know each other for a long time, then?"

"You bet; Ed's been with me since we were cubs! We're cousins, you know..."

"Phew, that's pretty remarkable," Kuzinga whistled, "So you guys stuck together after leaving your birth-clan? Don't hear about that every day..."

Banzai, however, started to shift around uncomfortably. "No, man it's not like that. We, eh... we never left, you know? Born and bred in the Elephant Graveyard, the both of us."

Kuzinga stared at Banzai incredulously; that was one of the strangest things he'd ever heard. When a male hyena grows up, he has to go looking for a new clan. That's just how it is, every place and every age – everyone knows that!

But not these two, it seemed.

"Man, you don't have to stare like that..."

"Oh – sorry. It's just... I didn't know that was, eh, a thing, with you guys. So in this clan, you're not supposed to... you know, leave when you grow up?"

Banzai looked away. "No, man, you got it wrong. You are supposed to leave – the other guys we grew up with did – but it's just that _we_ didn't, you know? Just me and Ed..."

"Right... But then, mind me asking why you two...?"

In reply, Banzai nodded towards Ed. "Come on, Kuz, don't tell me you can't figure that one out on your own. Just look him, will ya? You think there's a clan out there that's going to bother taking in Ed? Be real. You keep telling me yourself how bad it is to be out there, when you're on your own. He wouldn't last, and no-one ain't taking him in just out of kindness..."

Kuzinga swallowed. The conversation had taken an unexpectedly serious turn, and it made him slightly nervous.

"I didn't think about it like that. Apologies."

"'s Fine."

"So has Ed always... been like that?"

"Ever since I've known him. The elders told us it's because Ed was a difficult birth, only barely made it... I don't care, though – we've always been palls. That's why I stayed with this clan, too; so I can look out for him, ya know? A lot of hyenas opposed it – pigheaded sticklers like Kato – but Shenzi's always had our back."

"It's good to have friends in high places." Nothing like a good platitude to ease tensions, Kuzinga reasoned.

"You don't have to tell me! Like being friends with Scar – that turned out pretty good for us, too."

"What, really?" Kuzinga exclaimed, "Damn, I didn't know you were a friend of the King's!"

"Oh yeah, ever since he was still a cub and everyone still called him Taka. Man, the stories I got about him..."

The things Banzai told were not that remarkable in of themselves: he led with a story of four youngsters visiting the watering hole and causing mischief, much like they were doing now. But it was nonetheless extraordinary owning to the starring characters, namely a trio of hyenas and a lion named Taka. It's an extraordinary thing, a lion and hyenas just hanging out and having fun. Unheard of, even. As was two male hyenas being allowed to stay in their birth clan. Remarkable.

 _A lot of remarkable things in these Pridelands._

The sudden arrival of two lionesses broke Kuzinga's train of thought. He noticed them right as they entered the clearing, and his first impulse was to be on guard. He quickly signaled for Ed and Noki to get out of the water and join him and Banzai. By now the lionesses seemed to have noticed the hyenas in turn, and they made a beeline towards them. Kuzinga sized up their chances – two lionesses against three hyenas, so not good at all – and started looking for a good avenue of escape. He could conceivably carry Noki, if he had to...

Such was the reality of encountering lions even now, regardless of whatever yarn Banzai might spin about him and Scar.

As the lionesses got closer, Banzai stepped out in front of the group, posturing aggressively, with Ed following his lead. Kuzinga meanwhile took position in front of Noki, shielding him, though the cub kept trying to careen his head around the older hyena, to get a view of the lionesses, now in front of them. Looking at them up close, Kuzinga realized he recognized the smaller of the two lionesses: it was Tuli. She seemed to recognize him as well, though they only exchanged wondering glances, and no greetings.

"We got word that a gaggle of hyenas were causing trouble at the watering hole," the other lioness suddenly growled. She looked about her ostentatiously, "Well, you're the only hyenas here, so you're obviously to blame – delinquents, the lot of you"

"Hey, watch who you're calling deli-whatevers, lady. We ain't done nothing anyhow," Banzai shot back.

"Oh? Then where are all the other animals? It's a hot day, seems strange you would be the only ones at the watering hole – unless you chased everyone off, made 'em too scared to come back."

"Bah, we were just having some fun, you ain't gotta come here and be all, you know, lion-ey about it. What's the big deal?"

The big lioness squinted, not bothering to conceal her contempt, and Kuzinga noticed her digging her claws into the dirt.

"The watering hole is protected ground, protected by the law of the King. If you want to live in the Pridelands, you should know this. Often time, it's the only place where animals can come to get a drink when there's a drought, and if idiots like you were to scare everyone away, the Pridelands would be emptied of herds eventually. So there is to be no hunting, no fighting, no violence of any kind here!"

"But it was just a harmless chase, no hunting, no violence!"

"It wasn't harmless in the least! You interfered with other animals using the watering hole..."

"Hey, wait just a minute – who are you to tell us what to do?" Banzai interrupted, "Scar wouldn't give us such a hard time. If it's the king's law or whatever, then where's the king, huh? Certainly ain't you... not unless Scar's lost all his manes and gained a whole lot o' ugly!"

Banzai burst out laughing at his own joke, and Ed immediately joined in, cackling wildly.

The big lioness suddenly let out a growl, and before Kuzinga had the time to blink, she had Banzai on his back, one paw pressed down on his throat.

"Gah! I... was... just … having... a... laugh," Banzai managed, with some difficulty.

"You should think twice about what you want to say next, or _I_ might have some laughs at _your_ expense." The lioness hissed through bared teeth. "I can already think of a few side-splitters."

Banzai wisely held his tongue – not that he had much breath left to speak up with. Kuzinga intervened, but not before shoving a far too curious Noki back behind him.

"Look, ma'am, please, we didn't mean to offend! We just came out here for a swim, and if you need us to go, we'll be right on or way..."

The lioness' glare immediately passed from Banzai to him. "Just having a swim? If you were just having a swim, I doubt we'd have animals coming over to the king to complain."

"We might have chased a few animals around – but it wasn't serious, we weren't hunting them or anything!"

The two groups were left at an impasse, regarding each other with hostility, the only sound coming from Banzi, who struggled to breathe as the lioness still held him down. Kuzinga, meanwhile, was having some trouble keeping Noki safely out of sight.

Tuli, who hadn't said or done anything yet, eventually seemed to notice the hyena cub, and used that as an opportunity to try and break the tension.

"Hey, Kuzinga, who's your little friend over there?"

When Noki realized the lioness' gaze was on him, he immediately lost all curiosity and scurried back safely behind Kuzinga. The adult hyena, meanwhile, breathed a silent sigh of relief. Tuli's silence, more than the other lioness' violence, had made him worry for their safety – what if she'd developed some kind of grudge following Kuzinga's deception, and had come along to extract a measure of revenge?

"It's Mizuri's little brother, Noki. It's a funny thing, first time I met him, he told me he'd love to meet a lion up close, but now he seems to be having second thoughts..."

"Be careful what you wish for, huh?" Tuli grinned sheepishly, before lying down on the ground with her paws outstretched in front of her, "Hey, little buddy, don't be afraid, I won't bite. I'm a friend of your sister's, hadn't she told you about me yet?"

Noki hesitatingly came out of cover, then started slowly stalking forward until he was face-to-face with the prone lioness. As the cub sniffed around curiously, Tuli remained motionless, with only her ears flickering when Noki put his snout up against them.

Then the bigger lioness growled, and the cub scurried back in a panic.

"Awww, Sarafina, why'd you have to go and do that?"

"I should ask you – these scum are lawbreakers, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tuli got up with a groan, "It's just a little kid. What am I supposed to do, huh?"

"We're here to uphold the law! It's what the king..."

Tuli snorted dismissively, interrupting Sarafina. "The king? Ha! Now there's a laugh for ya. He couldn't even be bothered to come over here and deal with this himself – I mean, you'd think it's the least he could do... He's the one that invited the hyenas in, after all. He should deal with them when they cause trouble, don't ya think?"

She cast a quick sideways glance at Sarafina, and was pleased to see her words hit the mark perfectly. It was no secret there was little love lost between Nala's mother and Scar. The big lioness ground her teeth, and her eyes shifted around uncomfortably.

"Maybe... but still, Sarabi asked us to deal with this... I don't want to let her down."

"She also asked for me to come along, didn't she? I'm pretty sure it's 'cause she knows I have a few hyena acquittance. So we both did our part, and I'm pretty sure _they_ learned their lesson by now - especially him," Tuli nodded towards Banzai, whom Sarafina was still holding by the throat. The hyena seemed like he was about to pass out.

Finally, the big lioness just shrugged, and let him go. He quickly scurried off, coughing and wheezing.

Kuzinga saw an opening to try and settle things: "Look, eh, Sarafina..." The lioness trained her gaze on him again, "I mean, ma'am! We get that we shouldn't have done what we did, okay? I mean, we didn't know it was wrong, but now we do, so, eh, we won't do it again. We won't, right?" He looked back at his companions.

Ed nodded manically, and Banzai hoarsely reassured the lioness that he had indeed got the message: "Yeah, definitely, I promise you won't see any more trouble from me – I'll even swear on Ed's life, if you don't believe me! And we'll tell everyone else: 'Don't go around causing trouble at the watering hole,' and that way you won't have to do this again some other day, come over here and be all righteous. Deal?"

Sarafina didn't reply, but only stared at the hyenas for a while, narrowing her eyes. Finally, she turned to Tuli again: "Why did you have to go and make things difficult?"

"What? I think we handled it pretty well."

"I guess," Sarafina sighed. She turned back to the hyenas, "All right, I'll let you off this time. The next hyena I catch breaking the law won't be so lucky, though. If it had been just me out here, you'd have been in real trouble; I would have loved nothing more than to beat you all to a pulp. Be sure to tell your friends that, too."

Then she turned around and trotted off without another word, save for a few grumbled curses.

* * *

"It's a good thing I showed up and not some other lioness – Sarafina would have had your necks if I hadn't interrupted her."

"Fat chance!" Banzai snorted, "Me and Ed would have turned her into mincemeat, easy! She's the lucky one for getting to walk away in one piece."

"Oh yeah? Think you can take me, then?" Tuli flashed a toothy grin, and took a step towards the hyena, who duly staggered back. "That's what I thought. You were a lot less wordy when she had you under her paw."

"I was just kidding! A joke!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Give it rest, Banzai," Kuzinga growled, still shaken from the encounter with Sarafina, and now quite annoyed at the other hyena's antics, "And Tuli, thank you – I mean it. You're right, things might have gone very badly if not for you."

"Don't sweat it," the lioness shrugged, "That's what friends are for, right?" Then she eyed Kuzinga suspiciously, "Though, from what I've been hearing I'm not sure you qualify for the title anymore. Friends don't spy on one another, you know."

Kuzinga looked away embarrassed. So much for a whole day's merriment. At a loss for anything profound to say, he in stead belched another pointless platitude: "I guess word travels fast..."

"Not really – Mizu told me in person just the other day. Seemed like she felt I needed to know."

"Oh... How... I mean, was she... did she seem mad to you?"

"No, just disappointed. Or disillusioned, I wasn't sure. But hey, cheer up, you still got me! I won't hold it against you too much; when it comes to betrayal, I've had way worse – what you did honestly doesn't even register."

The hyena managed a wry smile, "Thanks for that, it's more than I deserve. And, for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are," Tuli yawned, "Talk like that is cheap, thugh. I just saved your butt, so now you owe me one. Anyways, back to more important maters – you were introducing me to Mizu's little brother, before Sarafina got all prissy..."

Noki took to Tuli surprisingly well, after some initial hesitation. It wasn't long before before he was climbing on the lioness' back, or tugging at her ears and tail, all the while interrogating her about whatever came to mind. _Why don't you have spots? Why aren't your claws out all the time?_ _Where did you get this or that scar?_

She truthfully answered that she didn't know, most of the time, rather than try and make stuff up, as Kuzinga and Banzai had been ought to do.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions – sure didn't seem so talkative at first. How about I ask you something, huh? Why are you out here with these guys, in stead of your friends? Seems pretty dangerous for a cub, what with the kinds of trouble these dummies get themselves in..."

Noki didn't answer for the longest time. Eventually, it was Kuzinga who offered up an explanation, speaking softly: "He doesn't have many friends..."

Tuli made a questioning face. Kuzinga shrugged. Banzai looked away. Ed snickered.

"Well that just won't do!" the lioness suddenly exclaimed, "Everyone should have at least a couple of playmates their own age!"

"Well they don't exactly grow on trees," Kuzinga sneered, "There's only so many cubs in the clan, and..."

"You're being too narrow-minded; you have to think outside the clan. I know just where to find some new friends for little Noki."

 _Well what do you know_ , Tuli thought to herself, smiling, _seems like Zira's new-found habit of minding the cubs will prove useful after all!_


	18. Hunted

**p** **reface: another month, another chapter... With** **regards to** **o** **grandebatata and anon for continuing to read and review the story, I truly appreciate it!**

* * *

 **Hunted**

Zira thought she heard something behind her. She turned her head back with a jerk, but there was nothing. Nothing to see, and nothing to be heard. She tried to swallow, but her mouth had run dry.

Even if she didn't see them, she still knew they were out there, somewhere. Hunting her.

The wind picked up, stirring the long grass that surrounded her on all sides. Zira stood up tall, her head now perking out above the undergrowth. She could see the fields of grass around her ripple as gusts tore through them. Thick clouds overhead filtered out most sunlight, and rendered everything drab and desaturated. She crouched down again.

She'd hoped to maybe pick up their scent, but had no such luck. They were careful to stay downwind. Zira hadn't expected that. Yet she knew they were nearby – she could feel it, almost taste it.

The wind died down as suddenly as it had appeared, and the rustle of dried grass was replaced by deathly silence. It took Zira a while to start registering the habitual background-noise again – birdcalls, chirping crickets, her own heartbeat. Now again on guard for possible tell-tale sounds, Zira imagined hearing something to her right, but when she looked she could see nothing but an opaque wall of sun-bleached grass. She got up to move forward again, cautiously.

She'd only taken a few steps, when suddenly there came from behind her an off-pitched yell, not quite a roar.

They had found her, then. It was now Zira's turn to make a run for it. Without turning back to get a look at her assailant, she dashed forward, sprinting to get away as fast as possible. As she barreled through the parched grass, cutting a path of broken and trampled reeds, she became aware of a great rushing sound on either side of her. There were at least four others, two on either side, only visible as faint yellowish blurs, and they were closing in fast. They'd be on her in mere moments.

It seemed like Zira had run right into their trap. As she was being boxed on the flanks, the hunter that had flushed her out with his yelp moved in to jump her from behind. He was too reckless, however, perhaps overconfident after the initial success of the ploy, and just before he made the leap, Zira kicked him in the face with one of her backpaws. It was only a clumsy facsimile of the kind of deadly backwards kicks she'd seen zebra deliver on occasion, but it still sufficed to knock her target out of the chase.

It did her little good however, as she was still surrounded on the sides. And worse was yet to come.

As she tried to get a look at one of the attackers on her left, she suddenly saw from the corner of her eye a dark shape dead ahead. Before she has a chance to come to stop or even turn her head, it lunged at her and crashed into her chest. All the air was knocked out of Zira, and her forward momentum clashed with that of her foe, sending them into a messy tumble as the attacker stubbornly held on to his quarry. Before they'd even come to a stop, the four other bandits also latched on to Zira, pinning her to the ground.

And so ended the chase. It had been a resounding success for the hunters.

"All right, all right. You got me. Now get off, before I tear you all a new one."

The cubs were quick to jump back. They always listened to Zira – say what you want about her methods, but they did listen.

"Ow, damn. My shoulder hurts like hell - you got me good, Chumvi. No complaints on the overall performance, but trying to jump me head-on? Don't ever do that again. You'll break something, and more importantly, if you ever tried that on a zebra or a wildebeest, that's it. Dead. They'll trample you, run you down."

The black-maned youngster got up slowly, having to crawl away from Zira first. She was right – ambushing and jumping her as she ran towards him had hurt him more than it did her. Chumvi didn't show it, though. He felt far too proud for that. They'd done it! They managed to stalk, chase, and ambush Zira.

It was supposed to be hard, the most important thing they'd ever learn: ambush. That's how lions hunt. But they got it right after only a couple of tries – so what did that mean for them? Obviously hunting prodigies, the lot of 'em!

All five cubs now arrayed themselves around Chumvi and Zira, complimenting one another, their smiles beaming. Zira had no complaints about the overall performance – that was about as much praise as she'd ever given them! And everyone had managed to contribute, too, even Nala. No matter that she was the youngest of the bunch – she'd managed to keep pace along with Rinda on the left flank, perfectly synchronized with Kali and Zimua on the right.

Of course, the real star of the practice-hunt was Chumvi, the leader. At the start of their group-hunting lessons, Zira had put him in charge of the mini-pride, made him the leader of the hunt. And Chumvi had taken to the role like a duck to water. He'd planned the ambush, divided everyone into teams, and generally just spurred everyone on with the necessary supportive encouragements that were typically lacking in the talk they got from Zira.

Just as importantly, the other cubs had readily taken to following Chumvi's lead. Most simply recognized his natural ability, while the rest still vividly remembered when Chumvi had shown a different side of himself not too long ago, and were anxious not to rub him the wrong way ever again.

Now that the "hunt" was over, though, the young lion seemed to fall back into his old mannerisms, and he shifted uncomfortably as the other cubs started to crowd around him, alternatively gushing about Chumvi's role, and demanding that he validate their exaggerated claims of having contributed to the outcome of the ambush. All he did was grin dumbly.

He'd much preferred the atmosphere of the hunt – everyone single-mindedly focusing on a clear goal, him giving orders, and almost no talk. Being in charge without being the center of attention.

Those feelings quickly dissipated when Chumvi looked around him and he saw the smiles on everyone's faces, though - even Zira seemed to manage a toothy smirk. The cubs were now a team, one happy family working together, with no cliques, no bullying, and much of it was owed to him – the realization hit him right as he crossed looks with Nala. The young lioness was the happiest he'd ever seen her, and cheer radiated from her brilliant blue eyes.

Chumvi felt his heart swell knowing "I did this, this is what I am capable of". Before he had heard elders, when speaking of the sensation of ecstasy following a difficult but ultimately successful hunt, describe the experience as feeling like they could take on the world. But only now did he understand what they had meant: to know you have the power to effect a change in the world, if you will it. It was almost enough to make Chumvi go light-headed.

The reveling was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone pushing through the long grass and stumbling onto the scene. All eyes turned towards the newcomer, a cub with a nicked ear, a chipped fang, and the paltry beginning of what would become a reddish-brown mane. He looked rather bedraggled, with dirt and bits of grass clinging to his fur, owning to the tumble he had made after Zira kicked him in the face during the chase.

"Mheetu, how nice of you to finally join us!"

* * *

"Hey Kali, wait up!"

The young lioness briefly glanced behind her. She could tell it was Mheetu perfectly fine just from his voice – that wasn't why she looked back.

From the look in her eyes, he could tell she didn't want to talk to him. Mheetu wasn't having it, though. It had been going on for a while now; the other cubs kept avoiding him, and only talked to him when they absolutely needed to. Preparing for their mock-ambush just now had been the first time in days he'd gotten more than a few words in. Mheetu was sick of it. They all treated him like he had some kind of disease, and for what? All because they wanted to get on the good side of Chumvi...

It was all Chumvi's fault. Mheetu had blamed Nala at first, but she was nothing, nobody – just an excuse for Chumvi to get to him. It was obvious now, with Chumvi acting like he was about to become King of Priderock or something, all menace and swagger. That had been his plan all along, Mheetu figured, putting himself above the other cubs. And of course Chumvi had to go through Mheetu to do that, the only other male, who was smarter and more popular than he was to boot.

If it had been only that, Mheetu could have lived with it. So Chumvi turned out to have been scum all along, and stabbed Mheetu in the back when he got the chance – sure, why not; bad lions will do bad things. He hadn't thought of Chumvi as a lion being capable of doing that, but that's how it turned out.

Thing is, it wasn't just him. To Mheetu's bewilderment, all other cubs seemed to have turned on him, too. It's like from one day to the next, they suddenly looked to Chumvi for what they could or couldn't do, who they could or couldn't talk to.

Even Kali. They'd been best buds for as long as he could remember, and whenever Mheetu was looking to pull some mischief, she'd be right there beside him. Yet she fell in line just like the rest of them when Chumvi took the helm. That had hurt the most.

The saddest part was that, in spite of everything, he couldn't think of anyone else to talk to.

"Come on Kali, I just want to talk for a bit..."

He could hear snickering coming from Rinda and Zimua, who were walking with Kali. What was so funny about him wanting to talk to her, huh? Mheetu ground his teeth in anger.

The cubs were on their way back towards the nest, with Zira, Chumvi and Nala walking in the lead, Kali and her friends in the middle, and Mheetu trailing the group.

"Ugh – fine, but don't take too long."

With a flick of the head, Kali signaled to Rinda and Zimua that they should move a bit up ahead. They couldn't resist rolling their eyes and giving each other a knowing look before they went.

"So what do you want, Mheetu?"

"Why are you acting so rude? Just talk to me like you would to any other lion..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kali said, looking straight ahead.

"See, that's what I mean! Just look at me when you talk to me, all right? Don't pretend like I'm not here!" Mheetu jumped in front of Kali, to make sure she couldn't help but look at him.

"If you pulled me aside just to whine, I'm not interested." The young lioness deftly sidestepped Mheetu, and walked on unperturbed.

"No wait, don't go! You guys are all avoiding me, like some kind of a conspiracy – I can tell, and I'm sick of it! Did Chumvi put you up to this? Whatever, I don't care anymore, just tell me, what do I have to do to make it end?"

"Just stop, you're being pathetic. If anyone's avoiding you, it's because they're sick of you being all self-pitying and obsessive lately, not because of some grand plot against you."

"Obsessive? What the hell does that mean?"

"The way you've been going on first about Nala, then about Chumvi all the time. Like they were out to get you all along. Life isn't just about you, Mheetu – we all do things for reasons that don't necessarily involve you. Anyway, you asked me what you could do to make things better? Well, how about you try and talk things out with Chumvi? Apologize to him and Nala for they way you've been talking about them."

"I, apologize?" Mheetu bristled, "He almost killed me, and I should apologize to him? Just look at what he did to me!" He then indicated his chipped fang and nicked ear.

"D'aww, is the witle wion still upset about the booboos?" Kali rubbed one of her paws against her eyes, while donning an exaggerated frown – the universal symbol for a crybaby. "You didn't expect to keep your pretty-boy looks forever, did you? I for one think it's an improvement – makes you look half a year older in a flash."

"Don't try to excuse what he did! You almost sound like you're in league with that..."

"You're unbelievable," Kali sighed, "Fine, make of it whatever you want – but I'm done talking to you."

Without as much as a goodbye, Kali ran ahead and caught up with her friends. When they asked her what their chat had been about, she replied that it was just "Mheetu being Mheetu," and then they laughed.

Mheetu was left alone at the tail end of the group. When he stopped walking, nobody seemed to notice or care, and they moved on without him. It was for the best – he didn't want for them to see him cry anyway.

* * *

When Mheetu eventually returned to the den, upon entry he was greeted by the sight of a peculiar scene: all the cubs were gathered on one side, with Chumvi standing protectively in front of them, a fierce look in his eyes. Opposite them were Zira and another lioness that looked not unlike her, but more scarred – Mheetu remembered her being called Tuli. Like Zira, she too had not yet had any cubs, and as she was almost never on cubsitting detail, they had never gotten the chance to get to know her very well.

Zira's face betrayed anger and annoyance, more so than usual. The other lioness looked only disappointed.

"Watch your tongue, brat," Zira snarled, "Just because you're big enough to knock your little friends around, doesn't mean you get to talk back to me."

Chumvi sniffed defiantly.

"It's fine Zira, really. It was just an idea, they don't have to if they don't want to..."

"As if! They're just kids, all they get to do is what we tell them to do. You got that, you little twerps?"

"W-What's going on?"

All heads turned towards Mheetu.

"Oh, it's just _you._ And what the hell were you up to, huh?" Zira leered at him, "Why aren't you with the rest of them?"

"I dunno."

" _I dunno_ ," she mimicked him mockingly, "Well there's a surprise. Go on Tuli, tell this idiot what's got all the other idiots so worked up."

The other lioness shrugged apologetically before she started talking, well aware of Zira's propensity for terrible temper.

"Hi, you're Mheetu, aren't you, Kura's son? I'm Tuli..."

Mheetu didn't reply, and just cocked his head to the side a bit. _What's with the long-winded introduction?_

"So as I was telling the others, I have this friend... and she, eh, she has a brother – he's about your age I think – and, well, the thing is, we thought it would be neat if we could introduce you..."

"He's a hyena," Chumvi interrupted. Zira snarled for him to shut up.

"He is," Tuli acknowledged uncomfortably, "But that doesn't mean you guys won't get along! I met him, he's a really sweet kid..."

Zira nudged her friend in the ribs.

"I mean, he's _cool_."

"Whatever, still a hyena," Chumvi shrugged, "And we don't want anything to do with them."

Mheetu was taken aback. To be sure, he didn't have much love for hyenas himself: they looked, sounded and smelled weird, for one. Also, he'd never heard anyone utter a good word about them, and the threat of being eaten by a hyena was a prominent feature in most fairytales and fables the adults imparted to young cubs.

But ever since Scar had invited them into the Pridelands, Mheetu had taken those stories to be just that: fairytales and fables. After all, if the king invited them in, how bad can they be, really? And so far, they hadn't caused Mheetu any trouble.

Was Mheetu itching to meet one in person? Not exactly – preferably not, actually. But if Zira insisted? Sure, why not; it beats angering Zira. He'd learned to stay off her bad side by now.

Yet here was Chumvi, making a scene, and using rather strident language at that. Leaves one to ponder...

"Hey Chumvi, what crawled up your butt and died?"

"Stay out of this, Mheetu, it's none of your business," the young lion growled.

"None of my business? You pretend to talk for all of us, then tell me it's none of my business? Get bent! You guys, are you okay with this, with this wannabe-king here acting like he owns the place, pretending he can speak for all of us? Are you, huh?"

"Cut it out Mheetu, you're embarrassing yourself," Kali remarked snootily.

"Why, 'cause I dare to think for myself? You'd rather I fall in behind Chumvi the Wise, like the rest of you drones?"

"You really are an embarrassment," Chumvi chimed in, confident that he had the other cubs behind him, "What's the big deal, did you turn into some kind of hyena-lover all of a sudden?"

"Go to hell! You're the one making such a big deal out of this; it's not me that's talking back to Zira."

Mheetu stole a quick look at her, hoping to get some support, but no such luck: Zira's expression was one of disdainful incredulity. She had no use for a sycophant. He wasn't about to give up, though – any excuse for confronting Chumvi was a good one: "What's the harm in meeting with the guy, huh? If worse comes to worst, and he offends you somehow, you can just beat him into the dirt – 'cause that's how you do, isn't it?"

Chumvi bared his fangs, but before he could advance on Mheetu, or get a few words in, Nala stepped forward.

"What would you know about that, huh?" she shouted angrily, "Have you ever met a hyena, ever seen one up close, ever had to talk to one, or run from them? No, you haven't! You don't know anything about them!"

 _Aha! So that's what's up with Chumvi; he's trying to earn some points with his_ girlfriend _again._

"I know enough," Mheetu said dismissively, "I mean, uh, our king seems to like them fine, so, you know, who do you think you are, huh? Think you know better than the king?"

"They tried to kill me, Mheetu! Me and Simba, first time we ever met hyenas, and straight away they tried to kill us! We hadn't done anything, just took a wrong turn, and next thing we knew we had to run for our lives. If Mufasa hadn't gotten to us in time then they'd have eaten us for sure!"

"You don't know that," Mheetu demurred, "And besides, even if it was true, that doesn't... eh, I mean, you know, maybe... maybe it was just bad luck! Yeah, that's it – maybe you just happened upon a few bad apples. You shouldn't put that on all hyenas, that would be bigoted – you bigot!"

Zira snickered audibly at that accusation, but fell silent when she noticed no-one else was cynical enough to be in on the joke.

"Believe what you want to, but I know what I've been through. They were snapping at me so close by I could feel their breath on my heels. They would have killed me then, and I'm never giving them another chance at it if I can help it."

 _Too bad they failed, or I wouldn't have to look at your stupid face all day!_

Mheetu caught himself, though, and refrained from provoking Nala further. Much as she got on his nerves, his quarrel wasn't with her. Heck, she was probably the only lion in the den with a justifiable grudge against hyenas. The rest of them, though... Chumvi was using Nala's very real fears as an excuse for another power-trip, and the other cubs just fell in line, again.

But not Mheetu! He would make a stand, right then and there, against Chumvi's unfolding tyranny!

Or something. The truth of the matter was that he agreed to meet the hyena cub only to spite the others.

"You know what, fine, you all do what you like – stay here and be haters! But I'm going out there, going to, eh, step forward into the great and glorious future that's been promised us, and eh, you know, make all kinds of hyena friends and stuff! Do cool things! And you'll all be here, all jealous, saying 'Oh I wish I'd gone with Mheetu that one day, he was so much smarter than we were...'"

"Okay that's enough out of you," Zira grumbled, and she picked Mheetu up by the scruff, who gave a little yelp, "Would you look at that, Tuli, we got ourselves a volunteer!"


	19. The gathering storm

**The gathering storm**

Sarafina wished she were back at the den.

It was only just after sunrise, but already the temperature was nearly unbearable, the air around her thick and feverish. Dark clouds tightly packed overhead promised the sweet release of cooling showers, but for several days now none had come – already over a month late, and still they held out, coyly taunting the thirsty creatures prowling a parched landscape below.

To be back in the dark comfort of the den, feeling cold stone underpaw...

Sarafina clenched her teeth, trying to chase such idle thoughts. There was work to do. She drew a deep breath, slowly, taking care not to make any sound, and started crawling cautiously forward through the grass, staying as close to the ground as possible. The reeds brushing up against her and crumpling under her paws made only the faintest of noise, yet it seemed to her ears like a hellish racket.

Luckily, the small herd of gazelles up ahead hadn't noticed a thing. Good. Chances were Sarafina would finally be coming home with some food for the pride again.

Gathering enough meat to feed all mouths had become more difficult as of late. With the rains being as late as they were, life in the Pridelands had been forced to follow suit. No new rains meant no new shoots, no buds, no leaves – nothing new to eat for the grazers. So the herds had begun drift and spread out in search of food, leaving the lions of the Pridelands with considerably less hunting opportunities. Mind you, the pride wasn't in any dire straits quite just yet; there was still enough food to be had, but it just wasn't as easy to get at as it once had been.

Being cut from tougher cloth than their king, however, the lionesses didn't just shrink in the face of adversity or wallow in self-pity, but simply straightened their backs and soldiered on. The lionesses adapted: they went out to hunt more often, and went after prey even when the circumstances weren't quite optimal, such as limited cover, or when there weren't any weakened or sickly animals to go after. Another way they adjusted, was to split up in smaller teams in stead of going on the prowl as one pride. That way, they could cover more ground, and find even the small or faraway herds they otherwise might have missed entirely.

Because of this, Sarafina was presently accompanied by only two other girls. It would have to do. Though she couldn't see them from her vantage point, she knew that they were positioned far ahead of her, ready to spring up from the thicket the moment she initiated the chase and, hopefully, catch the chosen target by surprise.

That wouldn't be happening quite yet, though. She still had to sneak a bit closer first, so she could minimize the distance she would have to sprint. It's always a balancing act: the closer you sneak up to a herd, the more likely it becomes one of them marks you and causes the whole bunch to bolt before you can even get going. Don't get close enough, and you'll tire yourself out trying to cover the distance, whereupon the prey either outruns you, or dodges your tired and sluggish lunges. Young lionesses usually start out erring in either one direction, and then eventually overcompensating when they realize where they went wrong. Sarafina was well beyond such rookie mistakes, however, being both an experienced and naturally gifted hunter to a degree that no other lioness in the pride could match. No wonder she'd been the chief huntress for as long as anyone cared to remember.

That said, the vagaries of fate dictated the beats of her life just as much as any other lioness', and so even Sarafina's hunting game had its limits. When the gazelles in front of her all suddenly righted their necks, flicking their narrow ears and turning their dainty snouts to the wind, the lioness knew she'd missed her shot. The very next instant, all the animals in herd dashed away as if one cue, taking wide leaps on their slender, springy legs. They'd been too far away to start with, and now they all had a head-start, too. Chasing after them would be pointless.

Letting out a loud curse, Sarafina righted herself, and she wondered what has so spooked the gazelles. It surely hadn't been her: she'd taken up position downwind, like her two companions, and from what she could tell the gazelle hadn't turned their eyes or ears in her direction anyhow. She saw one of her friends up ahead stand up out of the underbrush too, giving Sarafina a confounded shrug; she wasn't sure what exactly had gone wrong either. Sarafina wasn't entirely convinced.

 _Figures; it's never anyone's fault!_

Before she got got so worked up she'd start to chew out the other lioness, however, Sarafina noticed something from the corner of her eye: a dark blur, coming in at some speed. When she focused in on it, the image resolved itself as a lone wildebeest, big and lumbering, lurching ahead to where the gazelles had just been.

Ah, so that's why they took off. A single wildebeest wandering around isn't exactly a threat to a herd of gazelles, but often it's enough to just have something unexpected happen to send send them fleeing. Of course, this was cold comfort to Sarafina: the knowledge that it was another grazer and not one of the lionesses that was at fault wasn't going to fill their bellies.

Or was it?

As she regarded the wildebeest, the lioness couldn't help but think something was off about the way it looked. Though its tempo was decidedly poor, the animal was heaving with exertion, damp all over and practically frothing at the mouth from the effort, and its gait was halting. If still, the beast would be positively shaking on its legs. Yet despite seeming dead tired, it continued to lumber on unsteadily, with one of its hooves dragging slightly.

The wildebeest didn't seem like it had much fight left in it, or breath. Sarafina could outrun it without breaking a sweat, and she doubted that the creature had the stamina left to match her.

Fate, it would seem, could go both ways, taking away one opportunity for a kill, only to immediately present the lionesses with an infinity better one in exchange. Taking down this wildebeest would be a cakewalk, no sneaking or sprinting required. At most a light jog.

Sarafina set out after her prey. Her two companions quickly picked up on her lead, immediately intuiting what she was going for, in the way that only hunters who know each other through and through could. They quickly gained on their quarry, and though the tired beast did try to quicken its pace as soon as it noticed these new predators, it was no match for the fresh lionesses.

Purely to gain some momentum, Srafina pulled a short sprint at the end, then leapt for the wildebeest's neck. The other lionesses, meanwhile, threw themselves at its flank with their full weight, grabbing hold with outstretched claws that dug deep in the animal's hide, trying to force it down to the ground. The wildebeest stumbled almost immediately, its knees buckled, and its head smacked into the ground, weighed down as it was by Sarafina who had by now latched onto its neck.

Now lying on the ground weighed down by three lionesses, the animal didn't have the strength to get back up again, only managing to bellow desperately. That sound was quickly reduced to a smothered gurgle, as Sarafina's jaws clamped shut round the wildebeests windpipe. The lioness mouth was soon filled with the taste and sensation of warm, thick blood oozing from where her fangs had punctured the beast's arteries, and it didn't take long for the sticky goo to start running down her neck and chest.

She paid it no heed.

By now, Sarafina's world was reduced to her claws and jaws, which she kept firmly in place, and the feeling of the wildebeest's body, now burning hot, writhing underneath hers. She was one with her prey, feeling its every exertion, its cramped muscles, its struggle for dear life, and its frantic, waning heartbeat. She did not hear, did not see or feel anything else – there was only her and the wildebeest. It was about more than deadly skill or instinct: the wildebeest would die so that Sarafina and her family might live, and it was therefore owed for a fleeting instant all of Sarafina's being, a final moment of oneness between predator and prey where the circle of life reveals itself in macabre intimacy.

The beast ceased all movement long before its heart stopped. Only then was Sarafina able to once again become aware of her surroundings, and return to the land of the living.

She was in for a shock.

Surrounding the lionesses on all sides were a dozen or more hyenas, some standing shoulder to shoulder in closed ranks, others pacing menacingly around the site of the kill. From their upraised tails and manes, Sarafina could tell they were anything but friendly – though you could also divine as much from the way most of them glared at the lionesses with bared fangs. While Sarafina had still been focused entirely on finishing the prey, her two companions had already started to confront the newcomers, who were slowly but surely closing in on the lionesses, hemming them in.

Leading the gang was the biggest hyena of the bunch, a tough female with stiff, brown manes and a squat, dark snout. One side of her face was racked with scars – a lion's clawmarks – and the white sheen in her eye probably meant she'd gone blind on that side. She didn't strike Sarafina as a particularly amicable type, owning in part to the way she was snarling at the other lionesses. As soon as she noticed that Sarafina had finished with her grim business, however, she shifted the focus of her attention. She muscled her way past the other lionesses, full of angry swagger and seemingly unafraid.

"Great, so you're finally done doing whatever it is you were doing," she growled, getting in Sarafina's face to such a degree that their muzzles almost touched, "Now would you kindly _piss off_!"

"If you want to keep that good eye you'd... better... back... the hell... up," Sarafina responded, emphasizing the last words and flattening her ears, contorting her face in a most fearsome manner. It must have combined well with the blood she still had all over her, because the hyena quickly took a step back. She'd lost none of her temper, though.

"You'd better call off your cronies, too – what in the blazes do you think you are doing anyway?" the lioness continued.

"What do I think I'm doing?!" the hyena exploded at her, "You three come in, steal my kill at the last moment, and then you have the gall to ask me what I'm doing? Damnation! I should have just had all three of you torn up without a warning and be done with it..."

Before Sarafina could process what was being said, she was distracted by sounds of struggle coming for the other side of the carcass. She turned to look just in time to see a duo of hyenas trying to grab hold of one of the wildebeest's hooves, before they were swatted away by the other lionesses. It was plain, however, that the rest of them were itching to try the same trick from different sides, and given their numbers there would be no way to stop them short of an outright fight.

"Hey! I said call them off! We're the ones that made this kill, don't think we'll let you steal it away from us!"

"Excuse me?" the lead-hyena hissed through clenched teeth.

"Don't think you'll get away with it because there's more of you, either. We three could take down half of you now right now if we wanted to, and you'd be hunted down as criminals anyhow..."

"You stinking lion! First you steal our kill, then you dare call us criminals when we try to take it back?"

"We stole nothing! It's ours, we made the kill – I wasn't just hugging the wildebeest out of affection, if you were wondering, scavenger."

"Unbelievable! All you lions are the same, think you're so much better than us... We've been chasing this beast almost all night, even crippled it too, and now you think it's yours just because you swoop in at the last moment, just when it was about to collapse? You act like a vulture, then turn around and dare call me scavenger!"

"Yeah right, give me a break," Sarafina snorted, "You expect me to believe you spent a whole night chasing a wildebeest, without killing it?"

The one-eyed hyena stared at the lioness with a look of total incredulity, before finally uttering: "Uh... duh! What, did you think wildebeest just sprout like that straight out from the savannah soil, dead-tired and crippled? It takes a lot of damn work! That's what hunting is – do I have to spell it out for you? You chase your prey down, bite at it a few times so it'll bleed out, and when it's too tired and weak to put up a fight – voila, bon appetit!"

That would explain why the wildebeest was such an easy target, Sarafina realized. She hadn't really had time to think about it before – there had been mere moments between failing to stalk the gazelles, seeing the wildebeest, and deciding it was a golden opportunity...

If what they were saying was true, she could see why the hyenas would be frustrated – but that didn't justify the way they were behaving, and besides, the law in this case was on the lionesses' side. Not to mention that Sarafina just didn't feel like giving those disgusting creatures even a scrap of meat – what kind of way of hunting was that, anyway? Just chasing an animal down until it tires out...

"Seems like a coward's way of hunting to me," the lioness sneered, "Just terrorizing the poor animal from a safe distance, never getting in close until it's too tired to fight back – despicable!"

"We don't need your stinking approval, and will hunt any way we damn well please," the hyena spat back, "Now get the hell away from my kill!"

Sarafina was about to point out that, by the laws of the Pridelands, ownership of a kill was determined by who dealt the final blow, and not based on who put in the most time or effort. It seemed like the hyenas were done talking however, as they all suddenly started to advance on the lionesses. Their leader, meanwhile, had jumped deftly out of Sarafina's reach, to the safety of her own ranks.

If the lionesses put their backs into it, they could have dealt the group of hyenas some serious blows. The downside of that, however, was that they'd most likely end up dead themselves. Sarafina wasn't about to die over a meal – one that had, admittedly, taken her very little effort to acquire. If given an opportunity, she'd much rather make a run for it. Their opponents, however, didn't seem keen on giving the lions a way out, and had formed a cordon around them, now more intent on the lionesses than the prey.

Then the wind picked up. The fierce gust almost threw some of the predators off their paws. Moments later, the air was suddenly aflame in a flash of bright light, followed almost immediately by deafening thunder, powerful enough to make it feel like the ground shook. It sent some of the hyenas cowering down in fright.

Seems like the rains had finally come; a violent shower broke to the accompaniment of continued lighting.

Sarafina wasn't one to waste an opportunity, and she shouted to her companions to follow her, before leaping past her opponents who'd been momentarily thrown into disarray. One hyena tried to block their path, but she sent the assailant flying sideways with a blow of her claws. Some of the others tried to give chase as the lionesses sprinted away and disappeared behind an opaque curtain of rain, but they were quickly called back by the lead-hyena.

"No, don't bother! We got what we wanted," she shouted, before bounding over to her comrade who'd taken a beating from Sarafina. The young female seemed dazed, but alive. Shallow clawmarks ran along the side of her snout and nose, leaking blood that mingled with the rain now running down her face.

"Careful now... Yeah, that's going to leave a mark – wear it with pride!" She then beckoned her still slightly woozy comrade to follow her as she planted her forepaws on the chest of the wildebeest in their midst, rising up above rest of the hyenas.

"You see, sisters? We can take on the lions just fine! All it takes is someone with the guts to do it!" the lead-hyena shouted, before stepping down from the carcass again, leaving her newly-wounded friend to soak in the adulation of the crowd. When the others started to tear into the wildebeest, the one-eye held back for a bit, licking her chops. The easy victory had whetted her appetite not for meat, but for another chance to confront the lions.


	20. When Mheetu met Noki

**preface: re: annon, I'm glad you appreciate the shades-of-grey approach (and boy did _that_ book ruin the expression for everyone). Expect more of it; it's a big theme, and plays a big part in the climax, if ever I get to it. Re: ograndebatata, as to your wish that no one gets hurt: well now... And did Mheetu make a smart decision? I'll leave you to decide after reading!**

* * *

 **When Mheetu met Noki**

"The Elephant Graveyard? Really?"

"Sure. I did promise I'd take you to see it one day, didn't I?"

They way she said it, Zira didn't sound all that enthusiastic. Mheetu was overjoyed, however: something good would come of this trip after all, and when he got back home, he could maybe even make the others jealous by bragging of his exploits in the Elephant Graveyard.

The day before, Zira and Tuli had proposed to all the cubs they meet up with a hyena-buddy of theirs. Chumvi and Nala had been very much opposed to the idea, and they drew the other cubs along with them. But because he was angry with them for entirely unrelated reasons, Mheetu resolved to do the opposite of whatever it was they wanted, and he thus ended up being the only cub to agree to the meeting.

Whomever would have expected such childish behavior from a child? As it stood, he'd almost immediately regretted his decision anyway.

The realization had come as he lay awake at night, mulling over the previous day's events and feeling sorry for himself. His decision would likely only serve to make him even less popular with the other cubs. Much as he disliked them right then, they were still his pridemates, and he was therefore very much stuck with them. Then when he finally did get a little sleep, he dreamt of terrible creatures with dark snouts, vicious fangs and big ears chasing him, threatening to eat him. What Nala told of before, hyenas chasing her to try and kill her, finally hit home.

Would he actually be fine, meeting one of them? Would it be safe? Maybe it was a kind of trap. You never know with _them_ , after all. Maybe he should just call the whole thing off...

When a new day dawned, however, Mheetu had to deal with the other cubs giving him the cold shoulder once again. It was enough to motivate him to carry through with his plans after all, afraid or not. So when Zira came for him in the early morning, off he went.

He was so anxious he felt like throwing up all the way there.

Until she mentioned the Elephant Graveyard, that is. Never mind that it was the exact spot where Nala had had her near-fatal encounter before: the mysterious aura of taboo that still surrounded the place was enough to make Mheetu disregard any objections he might have had before. So it came that he was in high spirits by the time they reached the sandstone ramp leading down into the shadowy valley.

Normally, the area's perpetual darkness would have provided a welcome relief from the hot savanna sun, but that day there was no escaping the oppressive, humid heat that blanketed the Pridelands. Zira, however, simply shrugged it off, used to worse, and Mheetu was too engrossed with his surroundings to notice. When the unearthly sight of a giant elephant skull suddenly loomed ahead, perched atop a mound of bones, appearing out of the darkness like a specter from his nightmares, the cub's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open.

Zira's expression betrayed only ennui.

"Whoa! Zira, Zira, look! It's huge! Look and there's the tusks, and there's a big hole in the middle, that's so weird..."

Mheetu raced ahead towards the eerie landmark. Zira made no effort to catch up, however, as her attention was drawn in stead by the dark shape that lay in the shadow of the steep rock face to the right of the elephant skull. While the cub scrambled up the pile of bones to peer in and see if there was still anything left inside the skull, she went off to the right to have a closer look.

What she found were two hyenas fast asleep, a cub and an adult. The cub lay nestled up against one of the adult's paws, and had fur of a dark-brown hue all over, with only hints of the paler fur of adulthood peaking through. The older one, meanwhile, lay entirely sprawled out, as animals who are suffering from the heat are wont to do, and his mouth was slightly ajar, with drool pooling underneath. Zira could not have told him apart from the next hyena if she tried.

Having Zira tower above you is a sensation in of itself, and not a pleasant one.

The grown hyena stirred, lazily licking his chops and half-blinking his eyes, before suddenly shooting awake when he realized just who the shadow overhead was. He let out a panicked yelp and quickly grabbed the cub closer to him, then frantically tried to back away. Wildly trying to scramble up a sheer wall of rock went about as well as you'd expect, and he was eventually left cowering before Zira, trying to make himself as small as possible, while still tightly holding the cub. The young hyena, meanwhile, gazed at her in an awe, wide-eyed and petrified.

Zira only rolled her eyes, and sighed: "I hope we didn't keep you waiting too long."

The terrified hyena seemed to calm down a bit as Zira spoke, and cautiously righted himself.

"O-oh... You must be the lioness bringing the cubs..."

"Who else where you expecting?"

"N-no one! It's just that you caught me unawares..." He would have added that waking up to the sight of Zira was utterly frighting, but was fittingly frightened into reconsidering by her unyielding glare. In stead, he looked around for a moment, then inquired: "So, eh, where are the eh, the lion cubs?"

In stead of answering him directly, the lioness turned around and bellowed: "Mheetu!"

The young lion's head duly appeared out of the elephant skull's huge nose-hole.

"Zira! There's nothing in here, it's all empty. How lame is that?"

"I don't care. Get your ass down here, now!"

Mheetu made his way down with ample aplomb, obviously enjoying himself as he hopped around in the osseous detritus. Like the well-behaved cub that he otherwise wasn't, he meekly went to sit down next to Zira. Then he puffed out his chest; his good cheer from getting to visit the boneyard translated into unwarranted self-confidence, which Zira was quick to notice.

"I present to you: Mheetu, would-be lion."

That deflated him somehowwhat. Mheetu let his gaze pass over the hyenas – it was the first time he'd seen any of them up close. They looked weird, with their squat bodies and thick necks. Their forepaws were too long, their backpaws too short, and their ears almost comically large. Still, looking at the adult hyena made Mheetu almost reflexively uneasy: huge, yellowy fangs peeked through behind dark lips, and a large number of scars gave him a fierce look... if it hadn't been for a long thread of drool that still clung to his chin.

He shifted his focus to the hyena cub. The youngster was still partly concealed behind the adult's paws, though he was starting to edge out of cover, driven by curiosity. Mheetu had never seen one of them before, up close or from a distance. He was struck by the fact that the cub was mostly dark-furred, wondering: do they come in different colors, maybe?

Then their eyes met.

By all accounts, there was nothing special about them – the color was a deep, dark brown, fairly common among hyenas, though less so among lions. Maybe it was something about the way the other cub was looking at him, then? Mheetu found it hard to look away.

"So... just the one?" the older hyena suddenly asked.

"Why, you think you could eat two in one sitting?" Zira retorted. If she meant it as a joke, no-one was laughing.

"What? No! I mean, I just thought..."

"Look, friendo," Zira interrupted him, "What were you expecting, huh? All lion cubs in the Pridelands suddenly lining up to come pall around with you mangy scavengers? Consider yourselves lucky that even one was stupid enough to show up..."

The lioness suddenly turned her gaze towards the hyena cub and grinned maliciously. He shrank back, terrified.

"... and by stupid, I of course meant that he's a paragon of tolerance and sociability, ain't ya, Mheetu? Go ahead, introduce yourself to these fine folks – tell 'em why you're here."

Suddenly put on the spot, the young lion punted, silently cursing Zira and her unflagging penchant for needling others.

"Uh, hi, I'm eh, I'm Mheetu... and, uh..."

"I already told them that. Go on, tell them what you told the other cubs yesterday, about what made you want to come here today."

 _Has there ever been an opportunity to make others feel worse that she hasn't latched on to with both paws?_

"Oh, right. Well, I was just saying to the other cubs that eh... you know, we're all living in the Pridelands together now, so it wouldn't be a bad idea if we all got to know each other better, and eh, you know, eh, all get along, lions and hyenas. I mean, our king let you in, right? And he's the king, that's saying something! So you can't be all bad, am I right?"

Mheetu swallowed, then cast a sideways glance at Zira. She was grinning, and gave no indication she was about to save the young lion from his rambling and transparently disingenuous speech. But Mheetu being Mheetu, he wasn't just going to wait for things to happen, and took matters into his own paws: he quickly changed the subject.

"Hey, mister?" he asked the adult hyena, managing to overcome his fear and revulsion. When he got the other's attention, me made a gesture of sweeping his paw across his face. After an instant of confusion, comprehension dawned on the hyena's face, and he aped the lion, finally wiping the drool from his chin.

"Oh – thanks, kid! I hadn't noticed... You know, maybe time we introduced ourselves, too. I'm Kuzinga, Kuz for short, and this here is Noki."

"H-hi..." the young hyena managed, before turning his eyes to the ground.

"He's all right – just takes a while to get going, 's all," Kuzinga interceded, and he produced a forced smile, tussling Noki's hair. The young hyena didn't seem to appreciate it much.

Mheetu looked at the cub with a perplexed expression. He'd been afraid of meeting _this_?

 _What a dweeb!_

* * *

"Man, this heat is really something, huh?"

Zira sighed. Talking about the weather: both the first and last refuge of the unimaginative. She ignored Kuzinga, and in stead took the opportunity to look around her. Everywhere she looked were steep rock faces topped with jagged edges, every now and then broken up by narrow gorges or gaping, dark caves. A maze of ridges loomed overhead, walkable but inaccessible from the ground. And everywhere she looked, the place was steeped in gloom, even moreso now that thick clouds blotted out the sun.

 _What a shithole._

Zira trudged on apathetically. She and Kuzinga were walking in front, with the cubs following close behind. Taking the lioness' disinterested silence as a cue to change the topic, the nervous hyena inquired why Zira had showed up to the boneyard, and not her friend Tuli, as he'd been expecting.

"I'm not good enough for ya?"

"No, no! It's just, I don't think I've never seen you with us hyenas before..."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

Zira let her words hang in the air for a bit before she continued, starting to feel just the teensiest bit of pity for the hapless hyena walking next to her.

"It's actually a tad complicated. Tuli's been spending quite a bit of time with you and yours, and the other lionesses have started to take notice. They are none too thrilled about it. If she suddenly took off with one of the cubs, I reckon it would cause quite a stir – imagine if she actually let you monsters near their precious babies!" Zira giggled, "I, however, am under no such suspicions – quite to the contrary: turns I'm the best hunting-teacher the cubs have had in a generation, so I suddenly have plenty of credit with the rest of the pride when it comes to the cubs. Nobody even batted an eye when I took Mheetu for a tour of the Elephant Graveyard."

"Wait... so his mom doesn't know he's meeting with us?"

"Of course not. He wouldn't be here if she did."

"But what'll happen if she finds out?"

"Don't care."

"But what if something happens to him?"

"Won't happen. And if it does, I'm pretty sure you hyenas will be the ones in trouble, not me."

"Sounds like you got it all figured out," Kuzinga sighed. He continued after a short moment of silence: "I guess it's the same everywhere, then."

"What?"

"Most hyenas don't want anything to do with you lions either, if they don't outright hate your guts. A couple of guys even attacked me once, accused me of being a lion-lover... I don't even think they're bad folks otherwise, but... I dunno."

"O boy, attacking you for your beliefs? Seems like I'm in the company of a genuine martyr here," Zira sneered, "Is that what gets you up in the morning, fighting for our great and glorious future together?"

"Get bent."

"Tsssk, learn to take a joke. Anyways, if you guys hate lions so much, why come live with us?"

"Mostly for the food, I think. I mean, just _look_ at this place!"

"Point well taken," Zira admitted, "So what excuse did you have to use to get that little bugger out here, if we lions are so lacking in popularity?"

"Oh, none. His mother was fine with it."

"No concerns I'd hunt both of you for sport?"

"Males don't count for much anyway, I doubt they'd miss us," the hyena remarked bitterly, "Besides, Noki's mother struck me as an eminently practical lady; I bet she thinks the chance to make some inroads with the next generation of Pridelanders is well worth the risk. Gives her family some more strings to pull, or something – I'm not good with girl-stuff like that."

That last remark mystified Zira, but she wasn't quite interested enough (that is to say, not at all) in hyena society to inquire further. Feeling like she needed a break from chit-chatting with Kuzinga, she turned around to see how the youngsters were getting along.

Lightning rent the sky. For the briefest of moments, the otherwise veiled Elephant Graveyard was set in cold, clear white light. Booming thunder followed on lightning's heels, shaking the land to its core, as a prelude to the crash of rain suddenly coming down in a torrential deluge.

The cubs were nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Ever had the feeling like someone is looking at you? It's a strange thing, when you think about it; it's not like looking makes any noises, or disturbs the air or anything – you can't even bend a blade of grass just by looking at it. Then whence that feeling so powerful and unmistakable?

Mheetu neither knew nor much cared. He just got the unmistakable feeling that someone was looking at him, and turned his head sideways. The young hyena walking next to him had his eyes turned to the ground. Mheetu knew he'd been looking, though. The lion pretended to turn ahead again, but in fact spied the other from the corner of his eye. And indeed, he caught Noki giving him a furtive glance, though he looked away again as soon as he noticed that Mheetu was keeping an eye on him.

"Hey man, why do you keep looking at me?"

After an awkwardly long while, Noki answered weakly, still staring at the ground: "I-I'm not."

"Yes you are, I could see you. You ain't never seen a lion before?" Only after he said it, did Mheetu realize that no, maybe he hadn't.

"I did, once..." Now the young hyena did look at Mheetu, "They were bigger, though, and angry. I've never seen a lion cub before..."

"Likewise. Hyena cubs, I mean... You don't have to be all skittish, you know. I don't bite."

With that little bit of encouragement, Noki went wide-eyed again, and he looked the lion up and down, before asking: "Mheetu?"

"That's me."

"What happened to your ear? It's like there's a bit missing."

"Oh, that's no big deal," Mheetu boasted, "I got it in a fight, 's all."

It seemed scarcely possible at this point, but Noki's eyes grew bigger still, and Mheetu didn't fail to notice. He rather enjoyed that he was able to so easily awe the other youngster, and he decided to play up his bad-boy credentials. He sat down and, with a single outstretched claw, lifted his upper lip, showcasing his chipped fang.

"See that? Same fight. The scars on my nose too."

"Whoa... Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore it doesn't – but at the time? Hell yeah! But I can handle it; like I told you, no big deal..." Mheetu then proceeded to regal Noki with a highly sensationalized account of his fight with Chumvi, carefully leaving out the myriad parts that reflected badly on himself, and playing up Chumvi's size and strength. At the end of it, you'd think he went up against Mufasa himself.

"So, yeah... I gave as good as I got, but he could have well killed me, you know?"

"Well I'm glad he didn't!"

"You and me both. So what about you, Noki? No offense, but you don't look like you've been in a lot of fights..."

"I..." For a moment there, as he cast his eyes downward again, it looked like the hyena was reverting to his previous, uncommunicative state. After a few moments, though, he mustered enough confidence to face Mheetu again: "I've never been in a fight... not a real one anyway. I've had the others snap at me a few times, but that's just to scare me away."

"So why do you never fight back?"

"But I don't want to! I don't want to hurt anyone. Besides... it wouldn't do any good: all the other cubs are older and stronger than me."

"Yeah, that isn't really fair..." Nala should have been there to hear Mheetu say it. "But still, you just let others pick on you all day?"

"No, mostly they just ignore me..."

Mheetu frowned. Any other day, and he'd have put Noki down as a loser only worthy of contempt, at best useful if he needed someone to be the butt of a joke.

It wasn't just any other day, though: the young lion had for the past few weeks gotten to experience firsthand what it was like to have others "just" ignore him all the time, what it was like to be excluded. And Mheetu knew for a fact that he himself was not a loser, but that he'd just had a stroke of bad luck (it would take some more time to realize that most of it had been self-inflicted), meaning that his hyena companion needn't necessarily be a loser either.

Maybe all Noki needed was a bit of guidance? A mentor in cool! And who better than Mheetu, coolest, smartest, and toughest cub in all the Pridelands?

"Hey Noki... what you say we get out of here, huh?" the young lion whispered conspiratorially. His companion responded with a look of confusion.

"What'd you mean?"

"Shh, not so loud... I mean we ditch those two old farts, and explore the elephant Graveyard all by ourselves!"

"Isn't that dangerous? Won't that get us in trouble?"

"That's the whole point!" Mheetu grinned, "If the other cubs turn their back on you, you just have to learn to make your own road, ya know? Break the rules, and be a rebel!"

Noki hesitated briefly, but then an utterly benign grin spread across his face. "A-all right! Let's do it!" he replied with enthusiasm bordering on the naive. The sentiment must have been infectious, because Mheetu was caught by a strange fluttery feeling himself that seemed to briefly dispel his myriad worries.

Then, surprising Mheetu with a sudden burst of initiative, the hyena beckoned to follow him as he rapidly made for one of the many small openings and crevices that dotted the rocky slopes of the valley they'd been walking through. The lion hastened to follow the other as he disappeared in a narrow tunnel. Inside, the darkness was total, and Mheetu struggled to locate his companion.

"Noki? I can't see anything here! Where are you?" he hissed.

"I'm up ahead! Just move forward, it only goes one way..."

So the lion did, inching carefully forward, until suddenly he snout bumped into something warm and fuzzy.

"Aah! Noki, is that you?"

"Who else?"

"I don't like this – I can't see where I'm going. We'll get lost crawling around in the dark here."

"Don't worry," the hyena reassured him, "I do a lot of tunneling back at the den. If you just memorize the passages and junctures, you don't actually have to see things, you can basically _count_ where you are..."

"Well maybe you can," he replied skeptically, not actually understanding what Noki wanted to say, "But the only cave I've ever been is the den back at Priderock – I can't find my way around here!"

"Just stick with me..."

"What if we get split up?"

"Just grab hold of my tail then," Noki offered, "If you let go, I'll come back for you."

"All right, just stay still so I can..."

 _I bet I'd look pretty ridiculous if anyone could see me now,_ Mheetu thought, as he clumsily brushed his muzzle and whiskers by the hyena's fur, utterly blind, looking for a tail. Another through that suddenly struck him, now that they were stuck close together in such a cramped space, was that Noki actually didn't smell.

It was a well-worn insult lions and hyenas liked to throw at each other, that they stank – so common a description, in fact, that Mheetu hadn't even considered it an insult, but just assumed it as a statement of fact. But Noki seemed to put lie to that truism.

Not to say that the hyena didn't have _a_ smell – everyone has, after all – but just that it didn't strike Mheetu as all that unpleasant.

 _What a weird thing to think about..._

"All right, got it," Mheetu eventually mumbled through a mouthful of bushy hyena tail. With him now blindly following Noki, literally, the duo made their way through a succession of tunnels. Every now and then, the hyena would halt and make them back up because they reached a dead-end, or when the incline became too steep. Mheetu just had to trust that the other cub was able to remember where they came from and where they were going, because he had not a clue.

Then suddenly, light! Or whatever passed for light on that gloomy day. The tunnel ended at a crack in the outer rock-face, looking out over a narrow valley lined with fairly steep but amply ridged walls. Though they couldn't tell in the twilight, the rocks had a darker hue until about halfway up. The floor was strewn with all kinds of bones, dead wood, small rocks – all types of debris piled up in randomly scattered heaps. The youngsters slid down the wall to the bottom of the valley.

"Finally, fresh air! That's enough tunnels for one day..."

"I liked it! It was fun to explore someplace I hadn't been before. Also..." Where at first Noki sounded giddy, he now again turned mousey, "... I liked that you were there with me."

"I don't think I was a lot of help though, all I did was follow after you and get in the way," Mheetu replied obliviously, prompting sniggering from the hyena. "What? You're making fun of me now? I'll show you!"

Giggles turned to a shocked yelp, and in the blink of an eye, Noki was on his back, pinned to the ground. "Who's laughing now, huh? Try to tunnel your way out of this one!"

The hyena's surprised expression soon turned to a furtive grin, however, and he he suddenly lunged at Mheetu's face, deftly grabbing the lions upper muzzle and nose between his jaws.

"Aaah!"

"Haha, got your nose!"

"It hurts!" Mheetu tried in vain to pry Noki's muzzle open with his paws, but he might as well have been trying to split a mountain. As soon as the lion's paws were off him, Noki was able to throw his opponent sideways.

"Okay, okay, you win! Man, you've got a monster's bite..."

"That's nothing!" Overly eager to impress Mheetu, the hyena sauntered over to some nearby bones arranged in a pile, and grabbed one of the thinner variety – a once-upon-a-time rib, maybe, "Here, check this out!"

With a sickening crunch, the bone between his jaws first cracked, then splintered entirely. He spit out the fragments. "These are all old bones, so they break easily – also, there's nothing in them. But there's good food in fresh ones! I'll only be able to break those when I'm older, though..."

Mheetu was duly impressed, though he reflexively refused to show it. In stead, he innocently dared Noki to demonstrate again, "But on a bigger one this time." Then, as the hyena ruffled the bones with his back turned, the lion pounced again. Now flat on his belly, Noki had no way to bite at his assailant, and was left squirming impotently.

A sudden flash of lightning broke up their friendly tussling. Both cubs cringed at the roar of thunder, but it was Noki who fearfully pressed up against Mheetu for support.

"Chill, man, it's just rain," the lion commented, awkwardly trying to reassure his companion while not being entirely at ease himself. They were both quick to regain their composure, though as the cool rain that came rushing down in a flood actually felt really nice after such a sweltering day. It wasn't long before they were splashing around with abandon, making a mess amid the various puddles that quickly started to form.

The water didn't just come down from the heavens, though: before long, many of the slopes and ledges turned to small streams that emptied into the valley. Mheetu was the first to figure out it felt really good to go stand under one of these waterfalls, and have the torrent crash into your body, or face: "Wharrgarbl!"

Noki looked on with a questioning look, his head cocked to one side, then suddenly started to scramble up the wall. Once halfway up, he hopped into the stream and let it propel him downwards, where he crashed into Mheetu, both of them laughing and cheering all the way. Now Mheetu was compelled to try try the waterslide too, of course.

The cubs were having the time of their lives.

All the while, going unnoticed by both, water started to pool in the center of the narrow valley. It started of as discreet puddles, though they quickly linked up to form a thin stream, flowing down the almost undetectable slope of the valley floor. Fed by water now flowing in from the surrounding uplands, the stream quickly swelled, picking up speed and force as it did, stirring the debris scattered all around.

By the time the cubs noticed, the only parts left untouched by the surging river were the very edges of the valley, and already it seemed dangerous to cross the raging, churning waters to the other side.

"That wasn't there before," Mheetu stated the obvious, indicating the newly formed stream, "This doesn't feel right – I think it's about time we bailed."

Noki wisely concurred, and the cubs clambered back up the side of the valley towards the cave whence they had come. Neither of them was entirely sure where they were, so it seemed best to simply retrace their steps. In front of the tunnel, Noki froze, however, refusing to go further.

"What's keeping ya?"

"Shh! Listen..."

Mheetu moved closer and put his ear above the darkened opening. An ominous drone emanated from the hole, accompanied by the rushing of air.

"The tunnels are flooding." Where the rain had felt pleasantly cool before, it now chilled Mheetu to the bone, and tight feeling gripped his stomach.

They couldn't go back.

* * *

When he looked at Noki, he could read the panic writ on the hyena's face; all the day's excitement had gone out of him, and he helplessly stared back at Mheetu – as if the lion had any clue of what to do now! The awful truth was that both cubs stood powerless before the awesome power and cruel indifference of nature.

Mheetu knew this full well... and yet he didn't panic, nor did he feebly break down and give up, for at that very moment a feeling was kindled deep inside him, one such as he'd never felt before, yet that would never leave him again.

The young lion didn't realize it at the time, of course. He just did what came to mind, and wrote it down to a kind of survival instinct. He put one paw firmly on the back of the hyena's head, and as he pulled him just that bit closer, looked him straight in the eyes.

 _What is it with those eyes?_

Then, with all the steel he could put in his voice, he declared as if it were a matter of fact: "Don't be afraid, all right? I'll get us out of here, no matter what. Just stick with me, and I'll look out for you."

Mheetu had no idea where he was, no idea where he was going, and no idea what to do in general. He knew this. Noki must have known it too. Yet at once, the hyena calmed down, and seemed perfectly willing to take him for his word.

Now that he had made himself the decider, Mheetu first task was to decide where to go. Just staying put wasn't an option; the water was rising too fast, and the rain didn't show any sign of abating – even if it did, a backlog of water might still have swamped them. They had to get to higher ground. Going up the walls wasn't possible, and there were no safe ridges in reach. Knowing that water always flows downhill, he thus resolved to just follow the waxing river upstream, for lack of better alternatives.

They trudged ahead, wet and miserable, grimly silent. The rain continued to beat down mercilessly, and the river only kept widening, becoming ever louder as it did. Swept up in the wild water was all the trash they had previously seen littering the valley, turning the stream into a deadly white churn that promised to grind anyone caught up into it to a pulp. To be dragged along by the water promised certain death.

And still no suitable exit. Even though they were now almost hugging the edges of the ravine, water already started to lapping at their paws.

Mheetu pressed on. What else was he going to do?

Then finally, when their paws were already submerged and moving forward against the raging current was becoming difficult, a way out beckoned. A large chunk of rock had broken off from the side of the valley, and the newly formed, serrated hollow would allow them to climb all the way up to a small cave well above the high-water-mark indicated by the discoloration of the stone. From there, they could probably clamber further on into the upper reaches of the Elephant Graveyard. From where they were standing now, that would be plenty.

One problem for the cubs, however: the hollow was on the opposite side of the newly former river. Mheetu could still see a chance for them to get out, though, because the boulder that had split from the ravine wall was stuck firmly in the middle of the valley. From an overhang on their side, they might be able to jump onto the boulder, and then on into the hollowed-out wall. Of course, as the boulder narrowed the passage, the river gushed forth with particular force there, rendering the successive jumps all the more daunting.

Noki seemed to be thinking the same thing, only commenting: "It's a long way to jump."

But they had no choice. Both cubs clambered onto the overhang, then edged towards the side. Below them, the water thundered on mercilessly.

As his gaze went back and forth between the boulder and the river, Mheetu noticed his mouth had gone dry, and his breath was quickening. He looked back at Noki. The hyena cub was shaking slightly. Mheetu realized he was, too.

"I- I don't think I can do this..."

"We can't just stay here."

"But it's too far!"

"We'll... we'll be fine. You can do this!"

"How would you know?"

There was nothing reassuring Mheetu could think to say next. Out of ideas, he just put his chin on Noki's neck, the way lions sometimes do. A slight shudder went through the young hyena.

"You can do it. You have to! Hell, you just made a new friend – it wouldn't be right if you would bite the dust right after, you know?"

 _Yeah, I said it! Eat it, world, this lion is friends with a hyena, and he's not about to let a little rain get in the way!_

"A-all right. I think I'm fine now. I think I... I'll try."

Probably about as good as it was going to get qua self-confidence for Noki, Mheetu figured. That left one important thing to be decided: who should go first? If Mheetu stayed behind, he could reassure his friend all the way, until he actually took the leap. But if that would also mean Noki would be taking the biggest risk, since it wasn't yet clear if the jump was actually at all feasible...

"I think... I think I should go first. That way I'll be sure if... if it actually works out. But if I make it to the other side, you have to promise me you'll follow, all right? No backing down. If I'm going to do this, I need to know you'll be ready."

"I'll follow you, I promise! I... I'll go wherever you go!" Then, surprising Mheetu, Noki quickly nuzzled him. It was over in a flash, but left the lion slightly dazed.

"Man, you say the weirdest things sometimes," Mheetu blurted out at length, smiling dumbly, "All right... now... Wish me luck!"

The jump itself was easy. The landing, not so much. Touching down on a curved boulder polished by wind and rain, all slick and wet, was an almost impossible task – so much so that Mheetu simply decided to skip it. Or rather, his instincts decided it for him: as soon as his forepaws touched the glib surface, all the cub's reflexes pushed him into a touch-and go, and he pushed off the boulder with his back-paws in turn, landing safely on the other side with some room to spare.

Mheetu was so impressed with himself he immediately let out a celebratory hoot, and struck a pose.

"Woohoo! Take that... eh... rain!"

Then he remembered Noki, and all the air went out of him again. He turned, and saw his friend still sitting forlornly on the other side. And now, finally, Mheetu did feel panic, and helplessness, and despair. All he could do was sit and watch.

And shout.

"Noki! You can do it! It's easier than it looks!" More followed, all in the same vein. It served as much to give Mheetu and outlet as to encourage Noki.

The hyena took a few steps back. A short, running start, and he pushed off from the ledge...

Hyenas aren't nearly as good at jumping as lions are.

Noki only barely made it onto the boulder, scrabbling hard not to fall backwards, into the raging torrent. He ended up sprawled out, as he desperately fought not to slide down the slippery rock. Mheetu had fallen silent meanwhile; at the sight of the hyena almost slipping backwards into the water, he'd been poised to jump back onto the rock, but now he was reduced to spectator again. It felt to him nothing so much like like his chest was going to collapse.

Noki started slowly getting up, steadying himself on shaking limbs. He cast a hopeful look at Mheetu. Then suddenly, he took the second leap. But one of his paws slipped, and he didn't get enough momentum to make it all the way. He'd only just managed to put his forepaws on the edge of the farther shore, but his body swung down.

The hyena felt himself slipping, and raging water tore at his heels. Scared of what was to come, he closed his eyes. All feeling went out of his paws.

But in stead of the cold embrace of death, Noki became aware of warm air wafting over his face, and a by now familiar scent. He opened his eyes to the sight of Mheetu's face above him, contorted to a fierce grimace, nostrils flaring violently, eyes alight. The lion had driven his claws deep into Noki's forelegs, and straining every muscle in his body, slowly started pulling him up.

Then Mheetu uttered a primal growl, and the accompanying burst of energy enabled him to yank the hyena safely onto the ledge next to him.

"Hell yeah! Think you can take me? Bring it on!" the lion shouted at the swirling waters below, overcome by the adrenaline still rushing through his body. He felt like roaring, running, clawing, even aimlessly jumping up and down. If someone had dared him to cross the river again, he might just have done it. Wanting nothing more than to share in his excitement, he turned to Noki.

He found the hyena with his legs folded under him and his head hanging, shaking all over and breathing rapidly. Blood welled up from the wide gashes that Mheetu had inadvertently inflicted while pulling his friend up from the abyss, and it mingled with the rainwater pooling under him. It made the bloodloss seem that much worse than it actually was – much more frightening, too.

Mheetu rushed to sit down at his friend's side, and started nudging him in a panic: "Noki! What's going on? Are you all right? Oh no, please don't be..."

"I-I'm j-just a bit tired... and cold... from all the rain..." the hyena stuttered, still grasping for breath.

"It's okay, it's all right..." the lion babbled, pressing his head against Noki's neck and straining to think of something he could do to help. Then he remembered seeing a cave up ahead; getting out of the rain would be a good start. He gently coaxed his friend into getting up, which already seemed to take inordinate effort, and then carefully led him up the sloping hollow, towards the nearby cave, supporting him whenever his legs seemed ready to buckle.

The cave was fairly small, but because it was only open on one side and sloped upward, it was perfectly dry. The duo kept going until they were a few paces removed from the entrance, out of the splash of the rain. The water coming down outside made for a translucent curtain, giving a sense of being entirely separated from the rest of the world. The inside of the cave became their own little universe.

Mheetu beckoned for Noki to lie down.

"Easy now, it'll be fine – I'm here for ya... Okay... Now, I'm just going to lie down next to you, all right?" the lion intoned, trying his best not to let his own anxiety shine through, and he curled up next to the hyena, hugging his back, putting one paw under his head and the other over his chest, "Back at the den, when it's cold out, we always get together like this to keep each other warm..."

Noki didn't say anything, but just pressed his head against Mheetu's paw. They remained like that for a time.

From outside came only the sound of rushing water and the patter of the rain, while inside the cave Noki distressed breathing echoed, slowly abating as it returned to normal. Eventually, the shaking subsided too, and Mheetu was gladdened to feel the hyena's scrawny body finally relaxing some, pressed up against his own, and his chest rising and falling in a slow, regular rhythm under his paw.

Though the danger seemed to have passed, neither felt like getting up again.

At length, Noki spoke up, tearing up as he spoke: "I'm sorry for this..."

"What? Why? You have nothing to be sorry for."

"But I do... every time something came up, you had to help me out: when I panicked, when I was going to fall, now this... I'm pathetic!"

"That's such bull! I'm the one that got you into trouble in the first place, by making you sneak off with me." Mheetu's gaze drifted towards Noki's forelegs and the deep wounds he'd made there. He shifted position a bit, so he could reach them with his muzzle. "Then I did this..."

He started gently cleaning the wounds, continuing to talk between licks.

"It's true; when I first saw you, I didn't think much of you. But you're much tougher than you look, even if you don't realize it yourself. You made it out of the ravine alive same as as I did, didn't you? And maybe you did take some convincing, but it was still you that took the jump back there. And, you know, so what if I helped you out? That's what friends are for! If I had to do it again, I'd rather have you with me than any of the cubs from my pride, I'll tell you that."

When he was done, Mheetu settled himself back down, and unthinkingly crossed his paws across Noki's chest, resting his chin on the top of the hyena's head. But when he thought his friend had quieted down, Noki suddenly whispered: "But there was something else, too..."

"Huh?"

"On the other side of the ravine, just before you took the jump, and I, you know... I was afraid of what would happen, I didn't think about what I was doing, and I don't know if you..."

Mheetu's only reply was to hug him tighter.

* * *

 **author's notes: I'm not sure if this chapter "worked". What do you guys think, anything to add or take away?**


	21. Stuck together

**Preface: a new chapter, who'da thunk it? With apologies to, eh, everyone still following this here story. I got a new job, and been putting in a lot of overtime, so, yeah… Again, sincerest apologies!**

* * *

 **Stuck together**

Mheetu didn't feel like seeing anyone. But he also didn't want to be alone.

The young lion had only just lain down in the small alcove at the back of Priderock, where he'd retreated for some solitude, but now he got back up again, aiming to rejoin the rest of the pride. Then, just before setting paw outside, he changed his mind one more time.

Maybe the rain had something to do with it. It was still gloomy outside, and the previous days' showers continued unabated. It seemed to make the world so much smaller, veiling everything more than a few stone's throws away behind opaque watery curtains. All that was left was Priderock, with its damp caves, and its pride. A small island in the darkness, and on it were only those lions Mheetu had known his entire life. And he was stuck with them forever – that's what it meant to be a member of the pride.

Mheetu shuddered at the thought.

Then again, maybe being alone was what stirred those awful notions. Better to seek company, and be diverted by them even if only for a little while. Mheetu stepped outside, and was duly drenched. He made his way back to the main den, dragging his paws and staring at the ground.

Nobody paid him much heed as he entered: the den was packed with adults and cubs alike, and one young lion muscling his way in made little difference. With the weather being what it was, anyone who didn't have to hunt was more or less confined to the den – and since no one was out hunting at the moment... a dozen lionesses and half again as many cubs packed in close quarters, all while the air still hung thick and humid. The smell of wet fur and bad breath.

Entering fresh from outside, Mheetu almost retched.

He made his way over to the other cubs. They were coping with the oppressive conditions much like most adults were: all of them were trying to sleep through the hottest part of the day. The only one who was still awake was Kali.

He used to like her, back before everything suddenly changed. She'd been his best buddy. Why? That was hard to say. Her mischievous streak, most like – the way her mouth curled and her ivy-green eyes squinted whenever he proposed they do something they weren't supposed to. But as it turned out, she didn't like him back, not really.

She liked the image she'd had of Mheetu: the lion who bent the rules, and other lions, to his will – someone powerful in that way, someone on whose side you'd want yourself to be. Then Chumvi had put everything in perspective with his merciless beatdown: Mheetu turned out to be just another weak cub, not really all that strong inside, but just a bully. There was nothing to like in that – and more importantly, nothing to be gained from liking him. Not that she'd ever admit it in so many words, to others or herself.

When she saw the scarred cub approach, she still felt like she should say something to him, though.

"Where were you off to?"

"Outside."

" _Duh_. I mean what were you doing outside?"

"Dunno."

Mheetu went to lie down at some distance from Kali.

Even though she was _so_ over the gloomy cub, that still irked her, somehow, the rejection implicit in it. He should have come and try to lie next to her, only so she could tell him he couldn't. _Then_ he could go lie elsewhere - that's how it was supposed to work. Who did he think he was, anyway, to go venturing out all on his own, then come back without a word, setting himself apart from the others? The nerve!

So Kali got up and followed Mheetu.

"What's the matter, miss your new hyena-buddy?" she drawled.

"Go away."

"Why would I? All my friends are right here – not like yours. I'm fine right where I am."

Mheetu said nothing, and just turned around.

"You're pretty pathetic, you know? You get into one little fight, and there's nothing left of you – you're so weak you run off to try and makes friends with those stinky good-for-nothings."

"Noki isn't stinky."

"Oh, is that what your _boyfriend_ is called, then?"

When even that failed to get a rise out of the young lion, however, Kali was ready to give up, and she turned back around. She did line up one last parting-shot, however, delivered in a sickly-sweet tone: "Oh well, it doesn't really matter, does it? It's not like you'll ever get to see him again anyway."

To her great satisfaction, Kali could hear Mheetu getting up behind her, and digging his claws into the rock.

 _Too easy_.

When she looked back, she could see Mheetu standing there on all fours, claws out, fangs bared in a snarl. She turned, waiting for him to argue with her, or shout insults. Nothing came out. Mheetu just stood there frozen, his face a grimace.

There were a lot of things Mheetu wanted to say, but he was on the verge of crying, barely managing to bite back the tears. If he tried to say something now, it would come out as a smothered, off-pitch sob. Better to say nothing, then, and endure Kali's smug smirk with some dignity.

She was right, of course. Chances were he would never see Noki again.

As soon as Mheetu returned from the Elephant Graveyard with Zira, his mother Kura had assailed them. Turns out the other cubs had let slip where they'd gone off to. They didn't even mean any harm by it; they just didn't know it was supposed to remain a secret – it was Zira and Tuli's own fault for simply offering their proposition to the group without further comment earlier.

That one of the cubs had gone off to the Elephant Graveyard to hang out with some hyenas quickly did the rounds 'round Priderock, and before long, Kura had gotten wind of it too. At first she was angry, then she was worried, then angry again – and Zira and Mheetu got back around that time. She was never, ever going to let her little sweetheart be talked into doing something that dangerous ever again – and it goes without saying that Mheetu actually deciding by himself to go and see his new hyena-friend was not only out of the question, it was even outside of the realm of imagining.

That wasn't the end of it, of course. Zira and Tuli were taken off all cub-sitting duties, guilty of behaving irresponsibly with other lionesses' cubs, and Zira would only ever be allowed to teach them again under the watchful eye of a chaperone – it spoke to her abilities that she was even kept on at all.

That was, however, cold comfort to Mheetu, who just wanted to get back to his new-found-friend as soon as he could. Who would take him, if not those two lionesses? He could of course try to run off on his own, but the Pridelands were enormous – he didn't even know where to start looking!

And then there was the problem that not every hyena he would run across would be friendly, as had so recently been illustrated. Mheetu's little sojourn had, after all, not been the biggest news of the day – no, that would be Sarafina being chased off a kill by a mob of hyenas. The king was up in his throneroom with the various aggrieved parties at that very moment, trying to settle the ensuing conflict in accordance with the Eternal and Sacred Law and _yada yada_ – such matters were a bit too dry to interest Mheetu and the other cubs, or most adults for that matter. Point being that not all hyenas were friendly.

And where did that leave Mheetu? It left him alone, stuck on Priderock, having to endure Kali's arrogant grin.

"Leave him alone, Kali."

And just like that, the grin was gone. Looking beyond Kali, Mheetu saw that someone had gotten up from the tangle of cubs sleeping nearby. She was younger and smaller than the others, but had by now learned to address them in a resolute voice, without fear.

 _Easy enough when you've got Chumvi to back you up_ , Kali thought.

"Why do you care, Nala?"

"Because you're just being mean to Mheetu for no reason. You shouldn't do that – he hasn't done anything to you."

"Humpf! you're the last lioness I'd expect to stand up for a hyena-lover," Kali bristled.

But Nala refused to be provoked: "Please, Kali, just leave him alone, all right?"

There was only sadness in her voice. Maybe that, more than her fear of provoking Chumvi by going against his little _pet_ , was what made Kali turn around, and go grumbling back to where the other cubs were sleeping. She left Mheetu facing Nala.

He wanted to thank her, he really did. By all accounts, he should have: the young cub had just stood up for him, after all. He who deserved it least. But maybe that was exactly why he couldn't spit out the word "thanks"; he felt so ashamed he couldn't look her in the eye, let alone talk to her. Not even to thank her. He looked at his paws.

He was ashamed – and how could it have been any other way? It had all started to sink in as soon as he left Noki behind, returned to the pride, and was again alone with his thoughts.

It was bleeding obvious, wasn't it? Noki, the little hyena everyone excluded, except for Mheetu, who became his… well, his friend. But it wasn't a big leap from him to Nala, the little lioness everyone excluded, thanks to Mheetu, who made her life miserable. And what had she ever done to him, really? He racked his mind, but all he came up with was her being younger than him, for which she could scarcely be blamed, and being a bit less willing to bend the rules. But after Mheetu's run in with near-death in the Elephant Graveyard, he could see the appeal of that, too.

The realization hadn't quite set in back when he was with Noki, but was fully formed by the time he saw Nala again upon his return to Priderock. It was because of the way she looked at him then. She'd looked worried.

After all he did to her, there was no anger, no hate. She was just worried for her pridemate. Just like she was now, facing him in the cramped and damp confines of the den.

"Is everything all right?"

"It's fine," Mheetu managed to squeak weakly, sniffing.

"Mheetu, look, I… I know it's not been easy for you lately…"

Now Mheetu did manage to look up, and he narrowed his teary eyes. All of Kali's taunts hadn't managed to provoke him, but that well-meaning euphemism finally did kindle some of his earlier anger. That things weren't _easy_ on him was at least partly on Nala's account after all, in Mheetu's mind.

And it was almost like Nala could hear his thoughts: "Do you think it's because of me?"

"You… you didn't do anything," Mheetu mumbled. When Nala kept staring at him, he found he had to look away again, "Nala, I… I haven't been… to you I… eh..."

"You were cruel to me," the young lioness stated matter-of-factly. The sudden bluntness shocked Mheetu. "You were cruel and mean to me, and you bullied me for the longest time. And I won't forget. I won't be your friend – ever."

 _That's only fair_ , Mheetu would have said, had he still been able to produce sound. The words got stuck in his throat.

"But… you are still part of the pride, and I don't want to take that away from you. I realize we haven't been treating you like we should a pridemate, and that was wrong of us. If… if you want, I could try and talk to the others about it, and see that we don't… see to it that you don't have to, you know, feel like you don't belong."

With some difficulty, Mheetu managed to look up again, and face Nala. Her posture was still unsure, and he could tell her smile was forced, but even so, the young cub seemed to him in that moment the mirror-image of queen Sarabi. It was obvious she did not want to do this thing, to reconcile with him, her former tormentor. But she did so anyway, because she felt she had to. Duty, to her pride, and to him, as her pridemate.

Now Mheetu did finally manage a smothered "Thank you," as tears ran down his muzzle.

Now Nala's smile became more sincere. "All right then. I'll make sure you can come back to the group. And if we don't push you away anymore, you won't have to put yourself in danger looking for friends in strange places."

"W-what?"

"Isn't it weird?" Nala giggled unperturbed, "Even I was worried for a while when you were gone."

"What did you say just now?"

"Hmmm? Oh, I meant you can just stay with us from now on. You don't have to run of and put yourself in danger again. Look, Mheetu, we all get it – you agreed to meet with the hyenas because you were cross with us. It was pretty obvious, and you made your point: from now on, we're going to make an effort to include you, so you don't have to act out like that again."

Nala wasn't wrong: that was exactly why Mheetu had agreed to go and meet with Noki in the first place. But that was then – things were different now. What had started out as a disingenuous exercise in contrarianism had, over the course of a most hazardous day, blossomed into something else entirely. Mheetu didn't quite know what to make of it himself, but one thing he was certain of: he wanted to see Noki again, as soon as possible.

"Nala, I'm… I'm touched you were worried for me, after all I've done, but..." Mheetu replied, starting to regain his composure.

"You bet I was worried – we all were," the young lioness interrupted, nodded emphatically, "It's like something clicked for me when you were away: even if I don't like you, I'd rather have you around than see you put your life in danger, around _them_."

"Don't say it like that."

"Huh?"

"You talk like it's a terrible thing, that I went and met with the hyenas..."

"But it's dangerous! We were all so worried about you..."

"Well don't be!" Mheetu snapped, "I had a great time, and met someone wonderful – and what I want now is to see him again as quickly as possible."

"But why? I just told you, we're here for you now, so you don't have to…

"What business is it of yours, who I want to be with? Why do you want to keep me here so badly?"

"Because you're my pridemate, and I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Why would I get hurt? You don't know what you're talking about!" Mheetu turned away from Nala dismissively.

"But I do! I know what they're like, hyenas. They tried to kill me once, remember? And now, they've threatened my mother, and stolen a kill from her – or hadn't you heard? You can't trust them, Mheetu, none of them!"

"I don't care what you think you know about "hyenas". Noki isn't like that – that's his name, in case you're wondering, my new friend. He has a name, same as us. And he gets lonely, and scared, and cold and hurt, all just like we do. And when he got hurt, he bled the same red we do... Don't talk like you know him!"

"Mheetu, you're not being reasonable..."

"Go to hell!" Mheetu shouted, tears welling up again, now mixed with flaring anger, "You just don't understand. He's my friend… he's my friend and I want to see him again – and I won't let you or anyone else keep me locked up in here!"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Get away from her!" a loud voice suddenly boomed through the den. Behind Nala, Chumvi emerged. His eyes were still puffy and his dark mane messy from sleeping, but his stance betrayed imminent violence. The shouting drew looks from all the lionesses in the den, waking those that had before been fast asleep, and all eyes turned towards the trio.

Nala quickly approached the young lion, to try and calm him down: "Chumvi, it's all right, we're just..."

Mheetu didn't bother to wait around and see how things would shake out. In stead, in sight of all the pridemembers, he stormed out.

Outside of the den, all was as gloomy as it had been, and the rain still poured down incessantly, keeping the wider Pridelands shielded from view. Before he even reached the ramp off Priderock, Mheetu was already soaked and shivering. His pace slowed, then he fell down miserably, and cried. He was still just a lone cub, and against him were arrayed all the elements and the vastness of the Pridelands. He wasn't going anywhere, no matter what else he might have wished.

After a while, Mheetu didn't feel the rain anymore.

"It's no weather to be out on your own, young one."

The young lion looked up, startled, to see a lioness standing over him protectively. She was lean, with fur of a darker hue, but creases streaked her face, and her skin had started to sag in places, as was wont to happen to older lionesses. She gently licked Mheetu's back, which served to warm and dry him at the same time.

"Maybe it's better if we got back inside, out of the rain?"

Winda, that's what she was called – Chumvi's mother. He remembered her from cubsitting as being strict and no-nonsense, though never angry or mean. It was a mystery to Mheetu how she had ever begotten a son like that.

"Why should I? What's there for me, huh?"

"Well, if nothing else, at least it's dry," the lioness smiled weakly, "I heard what you kids were saying, just now. You have a friend, out there?"

Mheetu nodded, sniffing.

"A hyena?"

He wanted to shout, _Yeah, but so what_ , but found he didn't have the strength left to do it. So he just nodded.

"You miss him?"

"I dunno – it hasn't even been that long, and I only met him once, but..." Mheetu looked up again, looked into Winda's eyes. Her expression was so warm – nothing at all like his own mother when he had tried to talk to her about Noki "Everybody in there hates me, I just know it. And the one animal that doesn't is out there, and… I'm afraid I won't see Noki again. Everyone tells me I shouldn't, tells me I can't… especially now that other hyenas have stolen a kill from Nala's mom… And I've heard Zira and Tuli aren't allowed to take me to him anymore, so how would I even find him again?"

Much as he tried not to, Mheetu started to cry again. Winda went on to lick him dry, uttering soothing words all the while, continuing to shield him from the rain. When he'd calmed down again, she picked him up by the scruff and deposited him at the entrance to the den.

"I'm sure they don't hate you, Mheetu. Even my son. I know he's… changed… recently, but still. Being cubs can be hard, and one of the hardest parts is learning to get along with everyone in the pride, but you will all manage eventually. As for your hyena friend..."

Winda turned he head and looked out over the Pridelands. When she turned to face Mheetu again, a sly smile curled her lips.

"You know, Tuli and Zira aren't the only lionesses to have ever gotten along with the hyenas. I'll see if I can't arrange something, one of these days."

"R-really? You've met with the hyenas before?" Mheetu gaped at the lioness in disbelief.

"Sure. Weren't expecting that of old Winda, were you? If anyone ever tells you an old lioness can't learn any new tricks, don't believe them."

"Thank you, thank you!" Mheetu threw himself at the lioness' paws, "But… why would you do this for me?"

Winda cupped the young lion's chin with one of her paws, and studied his broken fang and scarred nose, "Well… my son hasn't been entirely fair to you, so think of it as my trying to make up for that. And besides..." She let go of his chin, and tussled his scraggly mane, "The idea of lion and hyena cubs playing together, it's just too adorable!"

* * *

"It's all so tiresome..."

The black-maned lion let his gaze pass over all the faces present in the throneroom. On the one side, the lionesses, Sarabi and Sarafina, unmoved and snarling respectively. On the other side, the hyenas. Scar's gaze rested on the one-eyed hyena called Kato. It wasn't too hard to guess what she was thinking; contempt was writ all over her face. Scar felt anger boiling up inside of him at the sight of her. Who did she think she was, to show him such disdain? He would waste no time laying into her, no time at all.

And then there was Shenzi, who looked like she would rather be anywhere else. Understandable: of all animals in the room, probably only Scar wouldn't prefer to see her dead – and that included the other hyena. The worst part of it was that Shenzi was in fact there to defend that very same Kato, who was itching to take her place as matriarch. As far as Shenzi was concerned, at that very moment, she could well damn well have her wish. But it was not to be.

"Come, dear Shenzi, help a poor old lion understand: is it me? Do you so chafe under my rule? Or is it just that you don't like it here, in these beautiful Pridelands, and would rather crawl back to that stinking hellhole I pulled you out of?" Though he started out lying down, by the time Scar finished his sentence, he was craning over the edge of his podium like some terrible raptor ogling its prey. Shenzi shrank back.

"… or maybe I'm reading too much into it." The king crouched down again, "Still, I can hardly be blamed for thinking there is some kind of hidden meaning in all this that seems to have passed me by. Because the alternative would be that you are sitting here in front of me today actually trying to defend a lawbreaker and a thief! And I just can't imagine why you would ever want to do such a thing."

"Careful who you call a thief," Kato grumbled. When Scar immediately turned on her, eyes alight and starting to bare his fangs, she added, hissing through her teeth: "… sire."

"I scarcely see what else we should call you thieving brigands," Zazu squawked from behind the safety of his king, seated as he was on his royal platform, "It has been well established you have in fact stolen a kill from huntress Sarafina, and you have not even bothered to deny it!"

"Taking back what was mine by right is thieving now? Shenzi, why did you even ask me to come attend this circus, if all they are going to do is talk nonsense?"

"Show some respect, you are in front of your king," Sarabi suddenly intoned, to the surprise of all. It was the first thing she'd said throughout the meeting. Not to mention that her sudden defense of Scar was all the more unexpected. It made sense though – Kato was as much insulting the entire pride as she was their king, and that was something for which Sarabi would not stand.

Her dignified intercession was quite effective too, because though the one-eyed hyena still glared at the lions with hostility, she bit her tongue, at least for a few seconds.

"Thank you, Sarabi – a most apt remark," Scar nodded with not a little satisfaction, "Though I do agree with Shenzi's _most_ charming companion on one point: we should wrap this little circus of ours up as soon as possible. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing much to discuss: the hyenas took a kill from Sarafina, and I am not hearing anyone actuality deny this, so the matter is settled…"

"What the hell does it matter who made the bloody kill?" Kato exploded again, "It was us that chased the damned thing all day! We did all the work! Shenzi, tell him!"

"She isn't wrong, Scar," Shenzi whined, at long last, "I mean, it's what all my people are telling me, and it's not like queensie's friend over here denied that one either, right? So this could be a lot more complex, you know, it might not just be such a simple, eh..."

Scar silenced her with one raised paw: "I will refer you to our much beloved majordomo. Take it away, Zazu."

"Right," the hornbill noted primly, going so far as to hop to the front of the king's platform and spread out his wings towards his audience, "What you two… _charming_ young ladies have touched on is in fact a matter of long settled law, and the primary precedent all kings have heretofore referred to in cases such as these goes all the way back to third dry season of the reign of the Great King Mohatu, when the Pridelands had indeed been struck by a most prolonged drought. It was at this time that the king was called to mediate between the wild dogs of the Windward Downs, and a spotted leopard living in the..."

At this point, the king again raised his paw, motioning in cylindrical fashion, the universal sign for "get on with it".

"Er… right. Thus, the settled law of the Pridelands is that in any dispute, ownership of the kill is in fact determined by the animal dealing the killing blow, regardless of who else might have contributed to weakening or otherwise, eh, preparing the prey, as it were. So your concern is in fact addressed and very much overruled by settled law."

"Your law is shit, and so are you," Kato growled.

"Humpf! I will have you know, madam, that insults will get you nowhere with me..."

" _Get me somewhere_ with you? Ha! How about I bite your head off, you uppity hors d'oeuvre?"

"… and neither will threats!"

"You see this? Typical!" Sarafina interjected, "That's just how you brutes are isn't it? All you know is violence – if you want something, you either take it by force or use threats to get it. Savages, the lot of you."

By now, Shenzi was having to physically restrain Kato from attacking Sarafina, who in turn relished the opportunity to take on the hyena one-on-one. At this point, Scar, who had been following the exchange with some amusement, jumped off his podium to put himself between the different parties. The prospect of facing a lion seemed to enough to get the belligerent hyena to back off.

"Please, ladies, that will suffice. Now, if no-one else has anything productive to add, in stead of more threats and insults, I will go on and pronounce..."

"No, Scar, wait..." Shenzi interrupted, egged on by the other hyena's accusing stare. She had to speak up, for her entire clan's sake. Scar's glare quickly reminded her there was a proper form to doing so in public, however: "… I mean, your highness, please, if I could say something."

"What could you possibly still have to add?" Zazu asked dismissively, "Sire, I doubt she will surprise us by referencing some obscure precedent..."

"You're right, I won't! But I'd still like to say something..."

"It's quite all right, go ahead, Shenzi. Don't mind Zazu, he's probably still a bit stung from his exchange with your oh-so charming compatriot."

"Right, thanks. So eh, I get that it's your law and all, and to obey it, Kato shouldn't have done what she did. But, well, the thing is… Look, I don't know how else to say it, but that law just don't work for us. We ain't lions, Scar..."

"Apt observation."

"Whatever! I just mean to say, we're different from you guys, and what works for you doesn't always work for us. We don't hunt like you do, for one. And we do hunt, whatever else some of you might think! And the way we do it, is we chase our prey. And we keep chasing it. And keep chasing it. If it slows down, we'll bite at it, and keep chasing it, make it bleed, and keep chasing it… until it can't run no more. That's how we hunt, and it's different from how you lions do it. So when you say, this is our law, or that is our law, that's great and all – but, you know, this law here, that you're throwing at us now, it just doesn't fit us! You say, it's about who deals the final blow, but with us hyenas, by the time it gets to that, all the work 's already been done!

"So when Missy lioness here comes in after my girls have been chasing the prey all night, takes it away at the last moment, and then says, "well it's mine now – that's just how the law is," well, that… that just isn't fair!"

 _Fair._

The word hung in the air for a while. The prattle of the rain started to drift in from outside.

 _Fair… well, life isn't fair, now is it?_ Scar thought. Even so, Shenzi wasn't wrong; it was a law very much fit for lions, at the expense of endurance hunters like the hyenas. And why wouldn't it be – it was made by lions, to apply in their very ow lion kingdom!

But that was then. Things were different now; Scar wasn't just the lion king anymore, and the hyenas were his subjects no less than the lions were. Sure, life wasn't fair, but so what? He was the king now, and it was well within his power to right what was wrong, to impose fairness at the point of his claws! Wasn't that why he'd wanted to make himself king, after all? If not for the power to change things for the better, what the hell was he king for anyway? What did he care for established laws, if they didn't suit him, he could just do away with them – he was the king!

So Scar made to lift his paw once more, ready to proclaim his judgment.

"We've been quite fair enough with you already," Sarabi suddenly barked, and she she strode over to the hyenas, who in turn backed away fearfully, "We've let you into our land without so much as a word of complaint from us lionesses. And ever since, you've been hunting herds that before would have been ours alone, even when the dry season dragged on and so much less food was to be had. And yet you complain of fairness? You settle in a lion kingdom, and are indignant to find laws tailored to lions – what exactly did you expect to find, pray do tell?

"You forget your place. We welcomed you into our lands, at the king's behest. If you find that things here are not entirely to your liking, then remember that no-one is forcing you to stay here. These are our lands, and you merely – guests. And you have the gall to demand laws should be changed to suit your convenience? I am telling you now: the lionesses won't stand for it."

As she finished her screed, the former queen casually cast an aside glance at Scar, and it was then the king realized her speech had not so much been addressed at the hyenas, but squarely at him. There was only so much the lionesses would put up with from him, and changing the way things were done to suit the hyenas would be going altogether too far.

Scar hesitated.

Zazu sensed an opportunity to make himself useful. For all his faults, he did have a nose – or beak – for sniffing out these kinds of unspoken powerstruggles, and for putting himself square in the middle of them.

"Sire, if I might suggest a – compromise?"

As the majordomo had expected, Scar latched on to his offer with both paws, though he could not resist throwing a barb in there for good measure: "Now Zazu, just now you spoke so eloquently of long settled laws – and moments later you already propose to compromise them? But go ahead, let it not be said that I won't take up a good idea, no matter where it comes from."

"Very well, Sire. Now, the law being what it is, I do think this case before us should be treated as a common theft, clearly. But, looking at the future, might it not be possible for the lionesses and the hyenas to come to a kind of, eh, ladylike understanding, if you will? That from now on, lionesses will always make a genuine effort to avoid going after those prey already being targeted by the hyenas. This way, hopefully, the current dispute will not repeat itself."

It was a reasonable enough workaround – if only the lionesses would agree to it. Scar cast a glance at Sarabi. The dowager-queen merely shrugged. _Good enough_. Scar Didn't bother to ask the hyenas what they thought, because this was the best deal they'd get regardless. He made both Sarabi and Sarafina state explicitly that they and the other lionesses would take care not to snatch any live prey from under the hyenas noses, and then summarily condemned a seething Kato to deliver to the lionesses before the waning of the next new moon the equivalent prey to thrice what she had stolen.

The one-eyed hyena stormed out in a rage, leaving a desperate looking Shenzi behind among the lions.

She never did deliver on those three kills. Nobody cared – they would all soon have far greater troubles on their minds.


End file.
